Marlborough’s Xtalic has created a new metal alloy that it says could replace gold and help cell phones last longer and resist corrosion that ultimately affects their ability to recharge.
The new nanostructured metal alloy, dubbed LUNA, outperforms gold as a contact finish on connectors, especially in corrosive environments. This metal could be a key component in having charging ports on mobile phones last longer. If ports are exposed to liquid, including human sweat, there can be rapid corrosion when charging. As devices convert to the USB Type-C standard, which allows for higher power for faster charging, this problem becomes more acute, according to Xtalic. LUNA can last 50 times longer than a gold finish under these conditions, the company reported.
Xtalic, founded in 2005, develops and commercializes the revolutionary ability to engineer metal alloys at the Nano-scale and creates alloys with new properties. The company’s alloys have been adopted in mobile and enterprise electronics applications, being deployed by more than 20 leading electronics firms and in use in more than 7 billion contacts worldwide.
