Tired of having a phone battery that drains out the very moment you need it most? Worry not. Soon, you can get hold of a phone battery that can be charged within 20-30 seconds. An Indian-American high-school student has just bagged the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award for her electrifying breakthrough.
Eesha Khare, an 18-year old from California, has developed a fast-charging supercapacitor that could be installed into a cell phone and fully charge it within seconds. She claims that the battery could last for around 10,000 charge-recharge cycles, against the 1,000 rounds that current batteries assure. She won $50,000 for her achievement at the annual Intel science fiesta held in Phoenix.
The technology, if validated, would be worth millions of dollars and would be more than helpful for charging mobile batteries. If further developed, it could be helpful for a wider circle of computers and cars. The fest honoured Eesha for "Design and Synthesis of Hydrogenated TiO2-Polyaniline nanorods for Flexible High Performance." The technology geek who invented a great solution to gadget lovers across the globe, which hi-end tech companies failed to accomplish, wishes to pursue her interest in nanochemistry at Harvard.
The other winner of the Young Scientist Award is Henry Lin. The 17-year-old student of Shreveport was commended for his work on simulating thousands of clusters of galaxies, which according to Intel, provided valuable new data for scientists and better understanding of the mysteries of astrophysics.
The top prize, Gordon E. Moore Award, went to 19-year old Ionut Budisteanu from Romania for developing a viable, reasonably priced, self-driving car model using artificial intelligence. Budisteanu, who won $75,000 for his feat, used 3D radar and cameras to identify other objects on the road, and this information enables puts the car in self-drive mode. The entire setup costs $4,000.
Technology companies like Google have been working to develop self-driving cars for quite some time, and it would have turned out expensive compared to Ionut's model. The technology would be helpful in preventing road accidents, thereby addressing a major global problem.
Apart from Eesha, other Indian teens to have bagged top prizes are Vinay Iyengar for mathematical sciences and Naomi Shah for Environmental Sciences. Both are from Portland, Oregan.
Around 500 finalists received awards for research in various categories.
