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Comment by armarr | Hacker News Reader

Sure, it would make the wiring smaller and more efficient. But I also don't see how it would help in the chemical energy transfer to charge the battery.

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What I was trying to say is, with some battery chemistries, the current (heh) limiting step for charging speed is the wiring into, and of, the battery, rather than the safe reaction speed of the battery chemistry itself. We could safely "crank the chemistry" by an order-of-magnitude or more if we could get the desired current into the battery without the wires+electrodes conducting undue amounts of heat into the electrolyte.

No, it’s not. It’s the chemical reaction the limit. In li-ion for example you will create dendrites when charging/discharging too fast or too deep. This is the cause of the relatively short cycle life.

According to the paper, this material stops superconducting at about 150mA per cm^2 of diameter, meaning that a 1cm-thick cable made of this material could conduct up to 150mA before the current is too much and it stops superconducting.

If my math is correct, then for a basic 500mA USB device, that would mean a cable a bit over 3 cm^2 in cross-sectional area, or about 2 cm across (for each of the power and ground leads, at least).

Alternately, a cable of just over 1/2cm in diameter (for power and ground, each) could charge a rechargable Ni-MH AA battery in about 12 hours and 40 minutes.

Tl;DR this is absolutely revolutionary science, if true, but we're definitely Not There Yet.

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