One of the biggest advantages of e-readers, apart from the paper-like E Ink display itself is the excellent battery. With a single charge, these can easily last several weeks. However, much of that has to do with the E Ink display itself which has an extremely low power requirement for its operation. The battery, otherwise,  happens to be the same standard lithium-ion stuff.

Researchers at the Monash University in Australia claim to have developed a new battery technology that can make e-readers, or for that matter, any device based on it, last several times longer. It’s a new lithium-sulfur battery interlayer that the researchers have come up with which they claim allows for extremely fast lithium transfer, something that ensures the battery is able to hold on to more charge for a longer duration while also being able to sustain a greater number of charging cycles, the university stated.

“A lithium battery interlayer sits in the middle of the battery and keeps the electrodes apart, it helps lithium get from one side of the battery to the other faster. The new interlayer overcomes the slower charge and discharge rates of previous generation lithium-sulfur batteries,” said Professor Matthew Hill who is part of the research team.

The benefit of the lithium-sulfur battery is that it is able to store about two to five times the charge by weight compared to the li-ion battery in use today. The key aspect here is the use of the new interlayer that allows for higher capacity and long life.

“The interlayer stops polysulfides, a chemical that forms inside this type of battery, from moving across the battery; polysulfides interfere with the anode and shorten the battery life. It means the battery can be charged and discharged as many as 2000 times without failing,” explained PhD candidate Ehsan Ghasemiestabanati.

All of this will lead to a less frequent need to charge the battery. So, if you require recharging your e-reader once a week, with the lithium-sulfur battery on board, this might get pushed to about once every six months or so. Of course, this is mere speculation at the moment though even twice the charge holding capacity compared to the conventional Li-ion battery should lead to a significant improvement in the battery life of e-readers currently in use.

Take for instance the latest generation Kindle Paperwhite which Amazon is claiming is able to survive 10 weeks on a single charge. Maybe that will stretch to 20 weeks or more with the lithium-sulfur battery though actual runtimes vary significantly depending on actual usage.

Another huge positive with the new lithium-sulfur battery tech is that it has zero reliance on exotic metals such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese which are available in limited quantities in nature. In contrast, sulfur is much more abundant and is, therefore, more affordable. This should help bring down the cost of the battery and hence the product based on it as well.

The research team that developed the new lithium-sulfur battery tech comprises of professor Matthew Hill, Dr Mahdokht Shaibani, and Professor Mainak Majumder who are part of the Faculty of Engineering at Monash University in Australia. The research has been done in partnership with the CSIRO, Australia’s National Science Agency.

However, it is yet unknown if the technology is matured enough to be put into production right away. That way, it’s not known when or how soon we can expect the li-sulfur battery to reach consumers’ end and actual devices such as e-readers, smartphones, tablets, or even EVs.

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