Nanomaterial charges phones, electric cars in SECONDS

Even with the latest flagship smartphones in the world, it still takes over an hour to charge your phone on average... at least for now. Drexel researchers might be onto the next big thing, using nanomaterial-based electrodes called MXene, that will charge chemical batteries much, much quicker than today's technology.

Engadget reports that the "near-2D design combines an oxide-metal 'sandwich' with hydrogel to create a structure that's extremely conductive, but still lets ions move freely as the battery builds up a charge. In the lab's design, you can charge MXene electrodes within "tens of milliseconds" -- you could top up a phone in seconds or an electric car in minutes". Impressive, eh?

As always the big issue here is getting to production quality energy cells, something that will require a number of years before we get to that point. Factories would have to adapt to the new technology, learning the new electrodes over current methods. The future of charging our smartphones and electric cars could be a hell of a lot quicker, as this is the future that is quickly coming up the road.

• Read more: US on cusp of revolutionary battery tech breakthrough