[THE INVESTOR] A group of South Korean scientists has developed new battery material that could bring significant changes to mobile devices and electronic cars, the Science Ministry said on Oct. 10.

The team led by Kang Jeong-ku of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology discovered a hybrid type of battery that can charge up to 100 times faster than lithium-ion batteries, the ministry said.

Lithium-ion batteries have so far governed the global rechargeable battery market due to their outstanding energy and power capability. However, they have the weakness of taking too long to charge and discharge.

As an alternative, a new storage mechanism called a supercapacitor was developed. These batteries, however, are much larger than conventional batteries for a given charge.

The ministry said the new technology would have 1.5 times the capacity of lithium-ion batteries but at the same time have a similar size.

“The latest development is forecast to be the centerpiece of electric cars and mobile devices in the future as they have stable energy capacity and can be charged at a relatively faster speed,” the team said.

The research was funded by the ministry and the findings were published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)