Sony to boost battery run time by 40%

When asked about the biggest weaknesses of modern smartphones, most users will point at short battery life. Handset makers have been trying to mitigate the problem by introducing devices with bigger (and heavier) batteries or fast charging technologies. However, both solutions are just sidestepping the real problem, which is caused by limited efficiency of lithium-ion batteries used in most mainstream mobile devices. 

However, according to a report from Nikkei, Sony is currently working on a new type of high capacity battery that should allow them to run for 40% longer than it’s possible today. The company hopes to introduce the new battery by 2020. 

Instead of lithium cobalt oxide compound usually used in positive electrodes, the new batteries will use sulfur compound, thus allowing the cells to store additional energy. Sulfur-based batteries have been under development for some time already, but until now their capacity was degrading too fast when recharging multiple times. Fortunately, Sony has now reportedly found a way to overcome this issue, opening the way for the new battery type into testing stage and eventually mass production. 

It’s also worth noting that apart from simply increasing the run time of devices using the new batteries, the technology can also be used to make devices smaller while providing length of use similar to contemporary batteries.