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Rolls-Royce looks to develop new batteries using material designed for contact lenses
Rolls-Royce is joining the race to build the next generation of energy storage batteries using the material originally designed for hard-wearing contact lenses saying it will work with Superdielectrics, a research company, to use the material to challenge the dominance of traditional batteries. Early studies with the universities of Surrey and Bristol have shown that the new polymer can create a capacitor, or energy storage, which is between 1,000 to 10,000 times more effective than existing materials. This supercapacitor could provide the bridge between systems which are quick to charge and quick to release small amounts of energy and those, such as lithium-ion batteries, which are slow to charge but last longer. It could allow electric vehicles, for example, to charge up fully within a few minutes and last as long as today’s electric cars.
