Membrane technology prevents battery drain

Engineers from Ohio State University have developed a new type of plastic membrane that prevents power leakage in batteries and enables rapid charging.
(Credit: Pam Frost Gorder/Ohio State)The technology, which was inspired by how living cell membranes transport proteins in the body, controls how charge flows inside a battery. Lithium-ion batteries have membrane separators that conduct charge and physically separate the anode and the cathode from each other. But existing batteries lose charge ov