Batteries Lithium-ion has been the preferred type of battery for our devices since it was first commercialized in 1991, and the work to find better alternatives has often been painstakingly slow. Thanks to a collaboration between Microsoft and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, new candidates for battery materials are beginning to be found (via The Verge).

Using Microsoft's Azure Quantum Elements platform, PNNL researchers were able to query the system to find battery materials that use less lithium.

The data was then narrowed down to infer what would best conduct energy and how practical each candidate would be in terms of availability and cost of implementation.

This AI-based data screening resulted in 23 candidates, which took only 80 hours for the system; PNNL is working to develop these new solid electrolytes in the hopes that they will lead to batteries that are more stable and use less lithium than current lithium-ion batteries. candidates, and were able to produce a battery that works with it

. [Given that lithium is currently in high demand and that demand is expected to increase exponentially, and that mining lithium is far from the most environmentally friendly process, this is the first step toward moving away from the element entirely and implementing something better for both the end user and the environment in which it is made may prove to be the case.

But beyond the implications, the speed with which the researchers were able to discover and implement this new material is astounding.

This suggests that more efficient batteries and battery designs are not as far away as one might think, and may lead to new battery technologies that solve some of the problems we face with rechargeable devices. [Current lithium-ion batteries are certainly functional, but they take a long time to recharge, have limited power delivery for their physical size, and have limited shelf life; if we can solve some of these problems by harnessing the power of AI and discovering, developing, and iterating on new materials and methods of construction, we may be able to solve some of these problems much sooner than we think. If we can solve some of these problems by harnessing the power of AI and discovering, developing, and iterating on new materials and processes, battery technology may emerge much sooner than we think, making the current one seem obsolete.

Only time will tell, but it looks like a very promising start.

While I'm still impressed by things like headsets that can provide hundreds of hours of battery life or gaming laptops that can withstand more than a few hours of actual gaming, it may pale in comparison to what a battery in the near future might make possible.

This, coupled with some developments in solar technology and similar environmentally friendly charging methods, could mean that battery-powered devices are on the cusp of something revolutionary, if this kind of methodology holds up.

Let's call the future, I say. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to charge my headphones. And my phone. And my... Well, you get the idea.