A five-minute charge – now you’re talking!

22.04.2016
© Zapgocharger
© Zapgocharger

Graphene and the latest high-performance nonwovens are proving to be a winning combination in a device that is poised to revolutionise the charging of mobile phones and laptops on the move.

Graphene, invented at the University of Manchester in 2004, is a form of carbon consisting of sheets one atom thick, with the atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice. As such, it is the lightest, strongest, thinnest, best heat- and electricity-conducting material ever discovered, for which endless potential uses have been suggested over the past decade, many of these still to become reality.

One of the latest graphene-based products nearing commercial fruition, is the Zap&Go.

This is an entirely new charger, based on a graphene supercapacitor, which is being launched by Zapgocharger Ltd., a company formed to commercialise the intellectual property of Oxford University in the UK.

In just five minutes, the Zap&Go will fully charge a mobile phone or laptop and the device can also accommodate up to three devices simultaneously – putting an end to the irritating need to carry around separate cables for each.

“The Zap&Go is the gadget everyone wants, because it means you no longer have to sit around on floors by plug sockets waiting for your phone to charge,” says Zapgocharger founder Stephen Voller. “I invented it because when I travel on business, I see many people sitting down by wall plugs trying to charge their phones. This happens frequently at airports, on trains and at conference venues and events wherever people cluster together. Almost every business person I have spoken to has experienced the nightmare of a low battery when you most need the phone. This is now more important than ever, since new security regulations at airports demand that devices are powered-up for inspection.”

Existing supercapacitors are made from double-wound aluminium foils, and a supercapacitor of sufficient size to fully recharge an iPhone battery would be the size of a soft drinks can and weigh about half a kilogram. This is too bulky and heavy to package into a phone charger.

“We are replacing the aluminium with graphene which is orders of magnitude more conductive than aluminium and allows the foils inside the capacitor to be made thinner and lighter,” Voller explains. “This means that our new supercapacitors are now small, light and sufficiently low-cost to be made into a competitively-priced phone charger. We also had to develop a new type of power supply because getting enough power into the charger in a few minutes didn’t work with existing power supplies.”

Central to the Zap&Go’s development are the thinnest nonwoven battery separators ever to be produced on new technology developed by Dreamweaver International, based in Greenville, South Carolina, and will be commercially manufactured this year by its partner, nonwovens leader Glatfelter.

The Dreamweaver materials are based on lighter weights and much higher compression but still allow the traditional benefits of nonwoven battery separators – enhanced safety at a low cost – to be delivered at the optimum thickness for traditional lithium ion battery separators.

“We have listened to our customers, who were demanding low thickness, low pore size and high strength, while continuing to value the safety characteristics and low-cost of Dreamweaver’s current products,” said Dreamweaver President and CEO Brian Morin.

“The thickness reduction complements our industry-leading energy density, making our supercapacitors even more competitive with batteries,” says Stephen Voller of Zapgocharger. “Perhaps the most important part of Dreamweaver’s development is that the cost per farad –the unit of capacitance – will decrease as a result of the significantly reduced use of expensive electrolyte. I would be surprised if the entire industry does not switch to this separator technology within a few years.”

So far, Dreamweaver has prototypes for a 15 micron titanium product developed for the supercapacitor industry, and a 20 micron silver product developed for the lithium ion battery market. Products as thin as 10-12 microns are being targeted in the very near future.

The first generation Zap&Go will be shipped to customers in 70 countries later in 2016.

The very latest in nonwoven applications in battery separator technology and energy storage will be on show at INDEX™17 – the world’s leading nonwovens exhibition - which next takes place from 4th-7th April 2017 at Palexpo.

 

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