An Australian research team has developed a quantum battery that could be the stepping stone towards a revolution in battery technology. This prototype is only a proof of concept, with a capacity of only a few billion electron volts, which lead researcher Dr. James Quach of the Australian national science agency CSIRO describes as "very small and not enough to power anything useful." However, the work towards a fully functioning prototype, showcased in the Light: Science and Applications journal (h/t The Guardian), is a promising sign of the future.
First, the battery took femtoseconds (or quadrillionths of a second) to completely charge, and stored its energy for nanoseconds. The six orders of magnitude difference that was recorded is, Quach believes, similar to a battery that took a minute to charge but would ultimately stay charged for "a couple of years."
