Created by University of Miami physicist Stewart E. Barnes, of the College of Arts and Sciences and his collaborators, the device stores energy in magnets rather than by chemical reaction. The spin battery is energised by applying a large magnetic field, and the device is potentially better than anything found to date, claims Barnes.

"We had anticipated the effect, but the device produced a voltage over a hundred times too big and for tens of minutes, rather than for the milliseconds we had expected," Barnes said. "That this was counterintuitive, is what lead to our theoretical understanding of what was really going on."

It is the use of nano-magnets that induces an electromotive force. It uses the same principles as  a conventional battery, but in a more direct fashion. The energy stored in a traditional battery is in the form of chemical energy. With the new technology  the magnetic energy converts directly into electrical energy, without a chemical reaction, and is a spin polarised current. 

The MTJs are used as electronic elements which work in a different way to conventional transistors. Although the actual device has a minute diameter, the energy that might be stored this way could potentially power a car for miles. The possibilities are endless, Barnes said.

The study due to be published in Nature and  available in the online advance journal publication.

Source:PhysOrg