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NEC just announced the Organic Radical Battery. The battery has a thickness of only 0.3mm, is flexible, and recharges in just 30 seconds!
“Organic radical polymer assumes an electrolyte-permeated gel state, and is the reason why the rechargeable battery is so remarkably flexible and pliant. In addition, the organic radical polymer electrode reaction is extremely fast and the supporting salts migrate through gel state polymer very smoothly. This results in little resistance to the charging reaction and an incredibly fast charging time of less than 30 seconds.”
“…it is also environmentally friendly as unlike conventional rechargeable batteries, it does not contain any harmful heavy metals such as mercury, lead or cadmium.”
- NEC
Before you start dreaming of cool stuffs like a wristband phone, or music players so thin and bendable, the battery is currently only capable of 1 miliwatt hour per square centimeter. According to ComputerWorld, that is only enough to keep an embedded LED lighted for 20 minutes before requiring a recharge. The most important application of this battery is probably for active RFID tags. But nonetheless, it is great progress in the right direction.
If the Organic Radical Battery is actually capable of powering portable gadgets, what would you like to see most? Share your wacky ideas with us.
