A revolutionary aluminum ion battery developed by scientists at Stanford University promises to recharge mobile phones in about a minute.

It will also be cheaper, safer and lighter than today's widely used lithium-ion batteries. You can also fold this battery.

Scientists developed the battery by combining an aluminum anode and graphite cathode with an ionic liquid electrolyte in a flexible polymer-coated pouch.. The prototype kept providing power for 7,500 cycles without losing capacity compared to the 1,000 cycles for a standard lithium-ion battery.

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"We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames," said Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford.

He said the new aluminum-ion battery is not prone to bursting into flames, and is capable of storing a lot of power. The material from which it's anode is made, aluminum, is abundant. The scientists turned to graphite for the anode.

"In our study, we identified a few types of graphite material that give us very good performance", said Dai.

He said you can drill through the aluminum battery pouch "and it will continue working for a while longer without catching fire. But lithium batteries can go off in an unpredictable manner -- in the air, the car, or in your pocket."

The aluminum-ion battery is still a prototype and generates just two volts of electric charge, compared to 3.6V from a lithium-ion battery. Dai said this can be overcome by improving the cathode material.

"Otherwise, our battery has everything else you'd dream that a battery should have: inexpensive electrodes, good safety, high-speed charging, flexibility and long cycle life. I see this as a new battery in its early days. It's quite exciting."