July 16, 2013

Supercharge your cell phone - California teen invents her way to a better cell phone battery

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Silicon valley teen takes science fair to a new level with energy storage device that can charge a cell phone in less than 30 seconds.

Eighteen year old Eesha Khare was tired of her aging cell phone battery run dry. But, instead of talking her parents into a new phone, she created a tiny supercapacitor capable of replacing her struggling battery. With support from Chemistry Professor Yat Li from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Eesha designed, synthesized, and characterized the new flexible solid-state device, which could be scaled up for use in cell phones or even cars. According to reports, if scaled up, her supercapacitor can charge a cell phone in less than 30 seconds.

Eesha's invention uses a core-shell nanorod electrode with a hydrogenated TiO2 core and polyaniline shell, Eesha's device won her second place in the 2013 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Arizona. She received the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for $50,000.*

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Eesha graduated from high school earlier this summer and is heading to Harvard this fall.

Feature photo from link via Creative Commons.

*The original publication incorrectly stated that Eesha’s device won her second place in the Intel Foundation’s Young Scientist Award competition in Arizona.

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