In Pursuit of Better Battery Life

Huawei has created a new configuration for a lithium-ion battery that will reportedly allow it to be charged 10 times faster than current batteries.

Huawei showed off its new quick-charging lithium-ion batteries in a video presentation at the 56th Battery Symposium in Japan last week, demonstrating that a 3,000mAh battery with an energy density of 620Wh/L could be recharged to 48 percent in five minutes. It also showed a 600mAh battery that could be charged to 68 percent in two minutes.

"[It] bonded heteroatoms to the molecule of graphite in anode, which could be a catalyst for the capture and transmission of lithium through carbon bonds," Huawei explained. "The heteroatoms increase the charging speed of batteries without decreasing energy density or battery life."

The developments at Huawei come just as Samsung has been throwing its weight behind fast wireless charging as a key feature of its phones, to work around battery recharging hassles. It's even teamed up with Ikea for its range of wireless furniture.