Tired of waiting for your phone to charge?

The battery life of our smartphones is arguably the biggest concern / headache / inconvenience we face on a daily basis. What if it wasn’t? What if you could plug your empty device in and have it fully charged in 30 seconds? Sounds too good to be true, but let me assure you, the technology exists, and in my opinion should be the next big tech purchase by any one of the big three, Apple, Google and Microsoft.

About StoreDot

The company behind the innovative technology is Tel-Aviv based start-up, StoreDot. The company came into existence from the nanotechnology department at the Tel-Aviv University and already has a working prototype, charging a Samsung Galaxy S4. The technology was unveiled at Microsoft’s Think Next conference in Tel-Aviv. Watch the video below for proof.

How does it work?

In essence, StoreDot have created biological semiconductors. According to the Wall Street Journal, “These can, amongst other things, store a charge, emit visible light as well as being used to produce high-capacity, or quick-charging, batteries.”

These semiconductors are also referred to as ‘quantum dots’ and are manufactured from the naturally occurring organic compounds called ‘peptides’. “We take these peptides, manipulate them and manage the self-assembly process that usually takes place in nature,” added Mr Doron Myersdorf, the Chief Executive of StoreDot. “Only two molecules of peptide attach to each other, and they create a very little structure, two nanometers in size. It has very interesting properties—some are optical, some are related to charge, and others piezoelectric,” which simply means that they charge under mechanical strain.

Another key point highlighted by Myersdorf is that the peptides are crystalline in nature, and the reason why it’s important is that it ensures they can hold a charge, as well as create a memory. This technology, when picked up, will revolutionise the mobile world regardless of how you look at it. Charging devices in 30 seconds will help users ensure their devices always have battery left, and if they don’t it’ll charge faster than your kettle boils.

At the moment the prototype charger, seen in the above video, is the size of a laptop charger, but while perfecting the nanotechnology, the company is simultaneously working to shrink the size of the chargers. The projected cost is about double the price of a normal charger, so anything in the region of R300 – R400, perhaps more.

Although I will almost wager that this technology will never be sold by StoreDot, as they will most likely be purchased at some stage before the suggested 2016 release date. I for one can’t wait to see who snaffles up this start-up first.