Skip to main content

Safe graphene battery won’t unexpectedly burst into flames like lithium-ion

Whether it’s filtering salt from saltwater and the color out of whisky or creating next-generation body armor that’s stronger than diamonds, graphene truly is a wonder material with seemingly no end to its amazing abilities. One of the potentially most exciting? Helping create next-gen batteries that could conceivably compete with the current gold standard, lithium-ion batteries, when it comes to powering future devices. With a few crucial advantages.

 

That’s what Nanotech Energy is trying to do with graphene-based lithium ion batteries: non-flammable and more efficient batteries that could potentially be used for tomorrow’s energy providing requirements.

Recommended Videos

“Nanotech Energy has developed a game-changing non-flammable graphene-based lithium ion battery, providing a safer solution for longer lasting energy storage,” Maher El-Kady, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Nanotech Energy, told Digital Trends. “We [have] learned how critical it is to have a safe battery. A very good example is what happened to the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and associated battery fires in 2016. The fire incidents led the phone to be banned from air transportation and cost Samsung more than $14 billion in damage to their market capitalization. Now imagine what would happen to consumer electronics with our safe battery solution. We also believe it is going to be a game-changer for the electric car market as well.”

Graphene super battery
Nanotech Energy

Not only are Nanotech Energy’s graphene batteries non-flammable, in contrast to traditional lithium-ion power cells, but the company claims that they are also more efficient; storing more charge, recharging much faster, and boasting a greater number of cycles before the battery reaches the end of its natural life. The battery tech is still in development, meaning that it’s not yet available in products that allow for this to be tested by consumers around the world. Nonetheless, it’s certainly something to get cautiously excited about.

“Nanotech Graphene Super Batteries are in the prototype stage and are being tested by a number of global companies in different industries,” Jack Kavanaugh, chairman and CEO of Nanotech Energy, told Digital Trends. “[The] next step is for Nanotech to build out its manufacturing capacity and then supply industry.”

Coming soon to a laptop, mobile device, or wearable near you. Hopefully.

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Google just gave vision to AI, but it’s still not available for everyone
Gemini Live App on the Galaxy S25 Ultra broadcast to a TV showing the Gemini app with the camera feature open

Google has just officially announced the roll out of a powerful Gemini AI feature that means the intelligence can now see.

This started in March as Google began to show off Gemini Live, but it's now become more widely available.

Read more
This modular Pebble and Apple Watch underdog just smashed funding goals
UNA Watch

Both the Pebble Watch and Apple Watch are due some fierce competition as a new modular brand, UNA, is gaining some serous backing and excitement.

The UNA Watch is the creation of a Scottish company that wants to give everyone modular control of smartwatch upgrades and repairs.

Read more
Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues
Tesla Cybercab at night

Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”

Read more