Goodbye lithium batteries Some phones have already started using silicon

Goodbye lithium batteries Some phones have already started using silicon

Goodbye lithium batteries Some phones have already started using silicon and carbon batteries, and these are their most prominent features

Mobile phone batteries are constantly evolving. They are limited by their size, so they have to find new ways to provide more power in the same space. And that's what new silicon batteries do.

These silicon-carbon batteries first appeared last year in the Honor Magic 5 Pro, and have since made their way to the Xiaomi 13 and 14, OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, Vivo X100 Ultra, and X Fold 3 Pro, among others.

However, in almost all cases, it was only included in the Chinese versions of the mentioned smartphones, which is why it is not very well known to the Arab and Western community.  

Current lithium-ion batteries have a graphite anode. The anode is the electrode where the oxidation process takes place, i.e. the negative pole of the battery. In simple words, a component necessary for the chemical reaction to occur that allows the battery to charge and discharge more than a thousand times.

The key to silicon-carbon batteries is that they have a silicon anode, as the name suggests. The advantage of using silicon instead of graphite is that it allows more lithium ions to be stored in the same space.

In short, a silicon battery has a higher energy density than a lithium-ion battery with a graphite anode.

This higher density can be applied to mobile phones in two different ways. Either you get a battery that is the same size as current batteries but with a larger capacity, or a battery that is the same capacity but smaller.

For example, the global version of Honor Magic 5 Pro has a lithium battery capacity of around 5100 mAh. But the Chinese version with a silicon battery has a capacity of 5450 mAh in the same space.

Thanks to this greater density, the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro offers a 6,100mAh battery, which is unprecedented in a standard-sized and thin phone.

The biggest beneficiaries of silicon batteries are foldable phones, as they can reduce their thickness and thus not become bulky when folded. It will also help make current mobile phones thinner, without losing battery capacity.

Silicon batteries are already coming to smartphones. Their usefulness also extends to devices of all kinds, from smart watches to the Internet of Things.