Nothing’s more infuriating than when you’re all set to roll, but your trusty device decides to call it quits, leaving you high and dry! And, of course, it never fails to happen at the absolute worst moment.
This pesky problem with rechargeable batteries might just become a thing of the past if battery manufacturers decide to switch up their game and use a different kind of adhesive tape.
The tape? It never crossed anyone’s mind!
Believe it or not, the unsung hero in the battery world might just be the tape. Researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada have discovered that switching to chemically stable polypropylene (PP) tape can boost battery life by as much as 10%, while also slashing self-discharge by up to 70%.
The batteries found in your everyday laptops and phones rely on minuscule strips of tape made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a synthetic resin, to keep their components in place. However, there’s a catch: this particular type of plastic can undergo a chemical reaction within the battery, leading to the dissolving of the tape.
This phenomenon results in the battery losing its charge without actually generating electrical current—a process known as self-discharge. That is the reason why devices that are fully charged can mysteriously and gradually lose their charge, even when they’re powered off.
