Researchers Accidentally Create Longer Lasting Battery

When it comes to working in a lab, accidents aren't usually a good thing. But due to an unexpected result, which led chemists to a system that could make batteries last up to 400 times longer than the best performing batteries. The accident part is that the researchers still aren't sure how the system works. Instead of lithium, the new batteries store electricity in gold nanowires that are thinner than a human hair. But an addition of an electrolyte gel to the nanowires as well as coating it with manganese oxide made the big difference. The testing cycle showed the new system could withstand 200,000 charge cycles over 3 months and only lose 5 percent of its capacity.
Unfortunately, this system is not a battery yet and there is no guarantee the efficiency will be maintained when it's scaled up to a device.