Are Batteries, the Barriers of Portable Revolution?

Batteries are the energy providers of portable objects. You need battery for your laptop, you need battery for your car lights and horns, you need battery for your mobiles, and even for your TV remotes. How can those poor things work without batteries supplying power to them? Then why are they said to be barriers of portable revolution. Actually, it is not the batteries but the present available models of batteries that are barriers of portable revolution. Batteries were first created in 1800 by Alessandro Volta. Since then batteries have undergone many changes relatively to the gadgets they were used in.

Batteries are getting better every year, but improvements aren’t keeping pace with the innovation that’s taking place at the device level. That is limiting the usage of gadgets like laptops and smart phones to their full extent.

Starting from their basic usage, even if never taken out of the original package, disposable (or “primary”) batteries can lose 8 to 20 percent of their original charge every year at a temperature of about 20°–30°C. Then there are rechargeable batteries like batteries of mobiles and laptops, but these self-discharge more rapidly than disposable alkaline batteries; up to three percent a day. This affects the battery life.

Battery life can be extended by storing the batteries at a low temperature, as in a refrigerator or freezer, because the chemical reactions in the batteries are slower. But I don’t think it is wise to put mobiles and laptops in refrigerators beside your ice creams.