Hard to believe but yes it is true, a battery that can be charged on air is being designed. The battery can store energy ten times more than the current battery designs.

It is been named as ‘STAIR’ (St Andrew’s air).It is charged in a traditional way and an open mesh section of the battery 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 ‘charge’ the cell as it is being discharge.

By replacing the traditional chemical constituent, lithium cobalt oxide, with porous carbon and oxygen drawn from the air, the cell is much lighter than current batteries.

STAIR could be used to power electric cars, mobile phones, laptop’s etc.

The battery is much smaller and lighter so better for transporting small applications. The size is also crucial for anyone trying to develop electric cars as they want to keep the weight down as much as possible.

The four-year research project began two years ago and is scheduled to end in 2011.