Newcastle University

This step-change in capacity could pave the way for a new generation of electric cars, mobile phones and laptops.

Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the £1.5m project is being carried out jointly by researchers at Newcastle University, the University of St Andrews and Strathclyde University.

Newcastle lead Professor Keith Scott said the results so far had been very exciting.

"Here at Newcastle we are developing the new air-electrode interface – the part of the battery where the reaction takes place," explains Prof Scott, professor of electrochemical engineering at Newcastle University.

"The cells are charged in a traditional way but as power is used or 'discharged' an open mesh section of battery – the interface – draws in oxygen from the surrounding air.

"This oxygen reacts with a porous carbon component inside the battery, which creates more energy and helps to continually discharge the cell."

The new design has the potential to improve the performance of portable electronic products and give a major boost to the renewable energy industry.

The batteries will enable a constant electrical output from sources such as wind or solar, which stop generating when the weather changes or night falls.

The STAIR (St Andrews Air) cell should be cheaper than today’s rechargeables too. The new component is made of porous carbon, which is far less expensive than the lithium cobalt oxide it replaces.

This four-year research project reaches its halfway mark in July.  Principal investigator on the project, Professor Peter Bruce of the University of St Andrews, said: "Our target is to get a five to ten fold increase in storage capacity, which is beyond the horizon of current lithium batteries. Our results so far are very encouraging and have far exceeded our expectations. "

Jason Green, EPSRC head of energy, said: "This type of technology is a vital building block in the move towards the low carbon economy that the UK needs, and particularly the move towards a more wide-spread use of electric vehicles."