Eli5 How can the new Xiaomi phone charge from 0 to 100% in 9 minutes ? What about the heat the battery must produce from charging this fast ?
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I don’t know all the reasons but the main one is that the battery is basically split in half. Charging two small batteries is always faster than charging a big one, and it’s safer and generates less heat.
It appears that they’ve gone to a very high silicone load in their cells. Silicone is known for being able to absorb lithium ions very quickly and holding a lot of power. The downside of silicone is that it expands to 4x it’s original size once charged. This places a lot of mechanical stress on the cathode and breaks it down quickly. It also won’t generate as much heat as might be imagined because of how easily silicone can accept charge.
Batteries are a balancing act. Push the needle too far in one direction and performance suffers in another. In this case Xiaomi would seem to be sacrificing longevity for rapid charge speed and capacity.
Frankly, it’s may not be a bad trade considering that most people trade in their phones after only a year or two.
Could be they have devised a battery with lower internal resistance(less heat generated), increased the surface area to allow for better cooling(sperating the battery for example) or that they care less about battery longevity and want to cook the think just to show off the best specs.
It’s a gallium nitride charger not silicon like any other, it’s way more efficient in battery passing and can get less heat as it can withstand 600 degrees instead of silicon’s 150, the phone’s battery is also 2 separate compartments.
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