An iPhone 6 takes around two hours to charge but could be full of power in a minute if fitted with a new aluminium battery

An iPhone 6 takes around two hours to charge but could be full of power in a minute if fitted with a new aluminium battery

Smartphones could be charged in less than one minute after scientists at Stanford University invented an aluminium battery so powerful it could revolutionise the industry.

The new rechargeable battery can go from flat to full in a fraction of the time it currently takes to pull in enough electricity to fully charge a phone, laptop or tablet.

While an iPhone 6 takes around two hours to fully charge its in-built battery, if it was fitted with the aluminium power source it would be completely topped up in around 60 seconds.

And it will keep going for more than seven times as long as a lithium-ion battery. A traditional battery can be recharged around 1,000 times, while the new one can withstand 7,500 cycles.

Although the new battery currently only produces half the voltage of a typical lithium battery, the scientists are confident that they will improve output within the next few years.

“Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life,” said said Hongjie Dai, Professor of chemistry at Stanford University.

"We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames.

"Millions of consumers use 1.5-volt AA and AAA batteries," he said. "Our rechargeable aluminium battery generates about two volts of electricity. That's higher than anyone has achieved with aluminium.

“I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting."

And the new aluminium battery is far greener and safer.

Conventional alkaline batteries are bad for the environment while lithium-ion batteries used in millions of laptops and smartphones can unexpectedly burst into flames and take a long time to charge.

Some airlines will no longer fly lithium batteries on passenger flights because they are so volatile.

"Our new battery won't catch fire, even if you drill through it,” added Prof Dai.

The aluminum-ion battery consists of two electrodes a negatively charged anode made of aluminum and a positively charged graphite cathode along with an ionic liquid electrolyte, inside a flexible pouch.

"The electrolyte is basically a salt that's liquid at room temperature, so it's very safe. added Stanford graduate student Ming Gong.

"Lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner in the air, the car or in your pocket. Besides safety, we have achieved major breakthroughs in aluminium battery performance."

"Another feature of the aluminum battery is flexibility. You can bend it and fold it, so it has the potential for use in flexible electronic devices. Aluminium is also a cheaper metal than lithium."

The research was published in the journal Nature.