1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,560
Chances are you don't think a whole lot about the charger you use to power up your phone,

2
00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:09,760
your laptop, or electric toothbrush. You plug it in, it clobbers your gadget with electronics,

3
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,560
and a little while later you've got a full charge. Simple, right? Well, it turns out that the

4
00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:20,240
electronics industry is very interested in making a fundamental change to charging technology. To

5
00:00:20,240 --> 00:00:26,080
be specific, they're looking at moving away from conventional silicon and switching to a new material

6
00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:31,360
called gallium nitride. But why are they stopped using something so tried and true? To answer,

7
00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,640
we reached out to our friends at Anker, and we'd like to thank them for their insight.

8
00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:40,080
So, like other electronics, chargers contain semiconductors, like silicon, that control

9
00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:45,840
current flow. And a semiconductor is a material that allows some electricity to flow, but not

10
00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:51,040
tons of it. Hence the name. However, not all semiconductors are the same, and one of the

11
00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:56,400
main ways that they differ from each other is in something called a band gap. All a band gap is,

12
00:00:56,400 --> 00:01:01,360
is an energy range where no electrons can exist. Gallium nitride's band gap is nearly triple

13
00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:07,200
that of silicons, meaning it can conduct electrons at higher voltages. But the band gap isn't so high

14
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,520
that it turns it into an insulator, which can't conduct electrons very well at all.

15
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:16,560
Because gallium nitride chargers can use high voltages, they can conduct electrons

16
00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,920
about a thousand times more efficiently than silicon chargers can. This efficiency gives them a few

17
00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:27,520
distinct advantages that are relevant to you and me, buddy boy. One, you can make a charger quite a

18
00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:32,880
bit smaller. So instead of having a phone charger that like blocks the other outlets, or laptop brick

19
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:36,960
that weighs down your backpack, you'll have an efficient gallium nitride charger that can push

20
00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:41,840
a high number of watts. Two, you might see chargers that are a little more versatile, as the more

21
00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,160
efficient nature of gallium nitride means that it'll be easier to make chargers that can

22
00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:51,280
charge multiple devices at once, or incorporate additional features such as multiple plugs for

23
00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,880
different countries without taking up a ton of space. Three, they should eventually be cheaper.

24
00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:01,760
Currently, the few gallium nitride chargers that exist on the market are more expensive than their

25
00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:06,720
silicon counterparts, since silicon is so widely available. Plus, they're subject to the dreaded

26
00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,680
early adopter tax, like most new electronics. However, because gallium nitride is so much

27
00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:17,520
more efficient, manufacturers won't need as much of it to construct a charger, which will drive costs

28
00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:22,720
down to the point that they might be less expensive on average than today's silicon chargers. And it's

29
00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:27,280
not like gallium nitride is a completely unknown material that we can't manufacture in large quantities.

30
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:33,360
Indeed, it actually started being used in a large scale in LED lights way back in the 1990s, and I

31
00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:38,480
was live back then. You also won't need a device that's specifically compatible with a gallium

32
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:43,360
nitride charger to take advantage of these benefits. Thank God. And if you're a fan of fast charging,

33
00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:48,000
gallium nitride will be especially important, as its higher efficiency will allow fast charging to

34
00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:54,800
be deployed to more devices. Of course, it might be a while before we see gallium nitride chargers

35
00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:59,440
become just as common as silicon-based ones, but you can grab one today if you're willing to spend

36
00:02:59,440 --> 00:03:04,560
a little more money. Some current chargers can push as much as 100 watts current chargers,

37
00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:08,960
so they might be worth it if you often need high capacity charging, but find yourself

38
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,400
fighting space limits, like if you're that guy hogging every outlet inside the airport terminal.

39
00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:17,920
Didn't your parents teach you how to share? So thanks for watching guys. If you like this video,

40
00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:21,840
hit like, get subscribed, and be sure to hit us up in the comments section with your suggestions

41
00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,840
for topics that we should cover in the future.