Nanotechnology to increase the life of our mobile phones

If there’s one thing we hate more than a battery depleted sign, it’s our battery actually sinking into the depths of unknown and refusing to switch back on. It is usually combined with silent rage, abdominal shaking and swearing and then the thought of throwing it at the nearest person’s head.

It usually happens in the most convenient of times – perhaps during important phone calls, or when stranded at unknown destinations, or indeed when eagerly anticipating essential news.

It’s a never-ending cycle because the more we use our business mobile phones the more we benefit, yet the more we use our phones the more we have to charge them.

Whilst our old school Nokia 3310s used to last somewhere between five and seven days, you’ll be lucky now to get two days of optimum consistent use from your business smartphone.

The Daily Mail reported recently a news story which implied that in the near future, we may be able to go months without charging our business mobiles – a blessing for business productivity everywhere.

Research involving nanotechnology at Illinois University means that the battery depleted sign may be a thing of the past – by replacing the metal wiring in mobile phones with nanotubes, extending battery life by up to 100 times.

Nanotubes are carbon tubes that are 10,000 times smaller than human hair. Eric Pop of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, said;

“I think anyone who is dealing with a lot of chargers and plugging things in every night can relate to wanting a cell phone or laptop whose batteries can last for weeks or months.”

‘This is also important for anything that has to operate on a battery, such as satellites, telecommunications equipment in remote locations, or any number of scientific and military applications.’