One in four of us finds the fear of running out of phone battery the most stressful situation in our day, according to Vodafone research.
The science behind our batteries is relatively simple, explains Billy Wu, director of research at the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. Batteries work using electrodes, which are “the things that hold the lithium in your lithium-ion battery.” Wu compares charging and discharging a battery to moving books from one bookshelf to another in a process called intercalation.
However, a new study suggests those electrons are more often released from oxygen ions instead, which could lead to improvements in how batteries are made. But one thing is for certain: over time, batteries degrade, resulting in ions going walkabout and getting lost to side reactions, meaning the power can run out more quickly.
The cost of a new battery is often lower than that of a new device, and in recent years, even the hard-to-fix iPhones have become easier to repair. Still, prevention is better than cure – and cheaper, too. So how can you extend your phone battery’s life?
1. Keep cool
