Batteries could charge 10 times faster and last 10 times longer within 5 years

According to engineers at US University Northwestern, your phone's battery could soon charge up to ten times faster than current offerings, and hold its charge for ten times longer.

In fact, the engineers already have a working prototype that charges from flat in just 15 minutes, and lasts for a whole week without a further boost. That's a lot of Angry Birds.

How is this possible?

Well, the Northwestern team has been able to stuff more ions into the battery and speed up their movement by fiddling with the cell's materials.

It's all very technical, but it involves replacing full silicon sheets with tiny clusters of the substance, and using chemical oxidation to poke 20-40 nanometer holes in the battery's graphene coating.

Unfortunately, as it stands, the battery begins to deteriorate sharply after around 150 charges (about a year of use).

According to the project's lead scientist Professor Harold Kung, however, it will still be five times more effective than anything on the market currently.

The scientists estimate that this technology could be on store shelves within the next five years. Fingers crossed.