Teen Develops Device That Can Fully Charge Cell Phone in 20 Seconds
For years, tech manufacturers have spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to figure out how to extend the battery life of your favorite devices. An even more daunting task has been trying to solve long charge up times that plague most electronics from A-Z. However a teenager may have solved it all. Eesha Khare, 18, a from Saratoga, California has developed a super-capacitor that could realistically lead to a 20- to 30-second phone charge.
For quite a while now, scientists have been looking at Super-capacitors as an alternative to standard batteries. Super Conductors have the potential to store a lot more energy per unit than a battery, however, the devices are limited because of long charge times.
“The super-capacitor Khare developed uses a special nanostructure, which allows for greater energy per unit volume, and 10 times faster charge time.
Last week Khare got the chance to prove her device works, and was one of the three winners of the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix. The world’s largest science fair brought together 1,600 high-school finalists from all over the world, who competed for more than $4 million in awards.
“My conductor can charge very quickly, and it can last for 10,000 cycles, compared to batteries which are only like 1,000 cycles.”says Khare said in an interview this week.
“A phone could be fully charged in 20 to 30 seconds since the tiny device fits inside cell-phone batteries. This sort of advancement in energy storage could also be applied to laptops and electric vehicles, among other devices.”
As part of Intel’s competition, Khare won a $50,000 Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award (pictured above, far left). After receiving the award, Khare said she wants to “just keep making a lot of scientific advancements.”
Khare, who reportedly has already generated interest from Google, will be attending Harvard University this fall.
