I don't see anything that would make me suspect this to be a hoax. The paper the article is based on appears to be well written and documented, and follows sound experimental methodology. The test results are from work in rechargeable alkaline batteries and whether or not it would perform as well in Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) or Lithium-Ion (LiON) batteries with their very different chemistries and much high power densities was not tested and remains unproven.

If and when we see this in production is the real question. Note the closing line in the article..
Originally Posted By: PetaPixel
It’s anybody’s guess when (or if) this tech will make it into the batteries photographers use day in and day out, but the breakthrough could mean each of your rechargeable batteries will last a lifetime. No fading over time; no need to replace them.


A lot of really amazing technology exists in labs all over the world but it is a long journey from the laboratory to the production line. Many really promising technologies in the lab never make it to market because no one could figure out how to manufacture the product in sufficient quantities, the cost benefit ratio wasn't sufficient to make it pay, and sometimes by the time the technology reached the market the market no longer existed. (Carbon fiber buggy whips would have been absolutely superior to any other buggy whips but by the time they figured out how to make carbon fiber no one needed buggy whips.)

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein