Newly invented chip, the size of a pin head, could boost your phone battery

A team of engineers have developed a technology that can help make lower power electronics such as cell phones work more efficiently. The team, led by Ryan Guo, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, has now received a grant to commercially produce the chip.

As per reports in Science Mag, the technology, which about the size of a pin’s head, was developed in the university’s Multifunctional Electronic Materials and Devices Research Laboratory.

Guo is currently working with marketplace experts, as well as UTSA technology and IP management specialist Neal A. Guentzel, to understand the needs of consumers so they can determine which industry their chip is best suited for. It's an odd problem to have, since the device is applicable to several different uses – from everyday electronics to medical apparatuses.

Currently, several mobile phone users, who complain about poor battery life, put their device on power saver mode to extend the battery. The chip can keep a phone working at top functionality with much less power. Moreover, it facilitates the use of smaller batteries, since the object itself is so small.