You know the scenario. You’re getting ready to head out for a night on the town. Everything, for once, is going perfectly according to plan. You whip out your phone to let friends know you’re heading out, and that’s when you realize: whoops, forgot to charge the phone.
Inevitably, you’ll probably throw it on the charger for as many minutes as you can afford before heading out, but settle on the idea that you will be incommunicado during the latter portion of the night. That is, unless teenage innovator Eesha Khare’s creation sees the light of day. As told by SlashGear, the 18-year-old developed a means of fully charging a cellphone battery in — count ‘em — as little as 30 seconds.
The soon-to-be Harvard student entered her innovation into this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, in which she was named one of three winners, earning her a cash prize of $50,000. The technology that she created may even help power electric cars. It’s so sophisticated that, despite keeping tight lips on the ordeal, Khare has been approached by Google, which has shown some serious interest.
As of now, Khare says she plans to use her prize money to help fund her education at Harvard, where she hopes to continue researching her project. But she currently has no plans to sell her technology, though it seems like she is keeping her options open.
As presented at the science fair, her creation charges an LED, but she says that it is flexible. It can easily adapt so that it can be used in flexible displays and even in fabric. Right now, it can hold 10,000 recharging cycles, which is far better from the standard rechargeable battery, which can only withstand around 1,000.
We’re eager to see the day that we can plug our phones in (or just rest them on a wireless charging dock), and less than a minute later, be good to head out the door, worry-free.
