Emailed on April 5th, 2019 in The Friday Forward

3 months ago I downgraded from an iPhone 6s to a 5s because my 6's battery wouldn't last more than an hour off the charger. The ol' 5 is still kickin'.

But I'm not here to support conspiracy theories. I'm here to deliver the cold, hard, news.

Now, thanks to University of California Irvine PHD student Mya Le Thai, we shouldn't have to worry about battery life anymore.

In theory, her 'accidental' discovery could lead to a battery that lasts centuries—as long as 400 years.

She made the discovery while studying the properties of gold nanowire for commercial batteries. Typically, the gold filaments lose their integrity (and the battery dies) after 5,000 to 6,000 recharge cycles

By coating the gold nanowire in a type of electrolyte gel, Thai was able to create a circuit that withstood an unprecedented 200,000 charge cycles in the span of three months of testing, during which time there was no loss in performance, nor were any nanowires fractured by repeated use. Mya had just been “playing around” when she made the discovery by applying the gel, says Penner.

This discovery means that, if applied commercially, batteries may never need replacement. They could be used to power everything from computers to phones, from cars and appliances to spacecraft.

I'm looking at you, Tim