Smartphones are growing in power and size. Some phones have over 5,000mAh capacity. We get at most a full day out of our smartphones before we need to recharge it. Heavy use can reduce this, and you might need to either plug your phone into a charger or place it on a wireless charging pad if you have a busy day.
However, plugging in your phone to a charging source is not always possible. This is especially true if you are on the go, or just far away from any power sources. Portable chargers, batteries, and power banks are a great solutions. Your phone can be charged by plugging it into the charger. You can choose to have a bulky, heavy charger that lasts for days, or a small, lightweight charger that you can carry around in your bag and charge your phone quickly. These are our top picks for portable chargers.
Why cell phone batteries are so bad
Battery lifecycles can be very complicated, starting at the beginning and ending at the end. It is dangerous and harmful to mine lithium, as well as other components, for batteries that we use. These effects will have devastating consequences on our wild landscapes, as demand rises.
When our batteries go dead, the devices and their batteries end up rotting in landfills. Sometimes electronic waste is shipped abroad, where it is incompetently salvaged, or burned. It ends up in the water and air. Only a few percent of the electronics we throw away are actually recycled in a responsible manner. It would be a great help if the batteries didn’t get so bad so quickly.
How could nuclear tech help us?
The most promising and exciting new technology in battery technology is being developed today. These batteries would be capable of lasting dozens, hundreds, and even thousands of years. Furthermore, they could also generate their power from radiation. Our batteries might outlive our phones in the not-so-distant future and may exceed our lives many times over. However, they will never require to be recharged.
As if the idea of nuclear batteries didn’t sound crazy enough, the Nanodiamonds that will one day be found in our phones and cars could actually be the ones we use. It’s an exaggeration to call the science behind these Nano diamond-based battery complexes. In essence, radioactive elements are extracted out of nuclear waste and placed in diamonds via chemical vapor disposition. The diamond is then used as a transducer, converting the radiation to electricity.
Nuclear batteries could revolutionize smartphone design, not only for their longevity but also for their self-charging ability. The use of nuclear batteries would eliminate the need to charge them, allowing phones to be completely waterproofed. It’s possible, too, that artificial diamonds will become less expensive to produce so phones could be diamond-coated and therefore practically indestructible.
These nuclear batteries could be used to power everything electronic, not just phones. You can use them to power your smartwatches or earbuds as well as cars, drones, and robots. It’s easy to see how Nanodiamonds can revolutionize technology.
New nuclear gadgets in 2023
When might we see nuclear batteries on the market? NDB already conducted proof of concept tests and hopes to have a functioning product by 2023. Arkenlight, another manufacturer of Nanodiamond batteries has low-power nuclear batteries that are used to monitor equipment in the Stromboli Volcano. It will take a little longer for the first Nano diamond smartphones to be available, and likely much longer before our cars are powered by them.
Even if the technology is not available immediately, this is no time for such a breakthrough. However, this is a highly unpredictable and disruptive technology. However, considering the science behind the technology and the fact that some minor implementations have been made in the field of this battery technology, I believe there is good reason for optimism that our batteries may one day outlast our phones and will never need to recharge.
