Future Alternatives to the Battery

Mobile technology has expanded greatly over the past decade, but the technology behind it, the battery, has remained essentially unchanged. Coming in a number of different varieties, batteries all essentially use the same process to create a chemically derived electric charge. Although batteries may be cheap, expensive, rechargeable, single use, and of high and low capacity, the fact remains that all of them can store only so much charge per weight. And, while this amount of charge may be sufficient to many purposes, such as running a cell phone, it is quite clearly not enough for other, larger pieces of technology, such as laptop computers. Although the lithium ion battery has come along recently, allowing computers to run longer on a charge, there has been no real breakthrough. Will there be one coming?

Recently I have read about two possible alternatives to the battery: The fuel cell and the capacitor. Both, although they are a long way from realization, offer potential.

The capacitor is a technology that already exists. It essentially consists of two charged plates, held slightly apart from each other. A charge builds up in one, causing the opposite technology to build up in the other, allowing the capacitor to store current. However, unlike a battery, it releases the stored current all at once, in one big pulse. However, researchers have been experimenting with ways to regulate the output of capacitors and capacitor banks, paving the way for a capacitor based "battery". Such a storage mechanism would offer a substantial improvement over the battery, being smaller, lighter, able to hold much more charge, and able to recharge fully in seconds. Additionally, capacitors do not wear out over time, and a battery made from one would be able to be recharged thousands and thousands of time, with no ill effect.

Fuel cells, the other alternative technology, are far more similar to a battery. In fact, a fuel cell essentially is a battery. However, rather than using stored chemical potential in a battery, fuel cells use energy from a fuel, essentially turning it into electricity the same way a battery would. This means that a fuel cell battery would never go dead and never have to be recharged, so long as it was provided with a constant source of fuel. Butane, developers have reasoned, could provide a suitable fuel. Then, rather than recharging your laptop, you might just fill it up the way you would a cigarette lighter. It might go four eight hours on a small supply of butane. Of course, it remains to be seen what airlines will think of this.

Although both these technologies are a long way off, it is clear that any improvement on the battery would have a massive and immediate market. Such devices would have the capability to make mobile gadgets truly mobile, making it realistically feasible to go somewhere with a laptop without plugging it in. And, of course, don't forget applications such as the electric car, something that might become far more feasible were battery technology better. Hopefully these technologies will develop rapidly.