NEC is working on ‘environmentally friendly’ battery for data backup

The Japanese NEC is currently working on a relatively environmentally friendly battery that should prevent data loss in the event of power failures, the company has announced. Measuring approximately five by four centimeters, the battery has enough power to keep a 140W PC running for over a minute. In the event of a power problem, the battery takes over the computer’s power supply, then sends a signal to the machine that quickly stores open documents and then shuts down the machine. In this way it is avoided that data is lost due to the power failure.

What is special about the new battery is that it has been specifically designed to reduce the burden on the environment. Where existing rechargeable batteries usually contain potentially harmful heavy metals such as lead and cadmium, the so-called “Organic Radical Battery” (ORB) uses organic radicals to generate energy. Although NEC already presented the technology in 2001, this is the first example of an application of ORB. Nevertheless, it remains unclear when the first ORBs will actually be available in stores.