Eesha Khare, an American high-school student of Indian origin has won $50,000 at the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award. Her breakthrough invention is a charger that can charge a cell phone in 20-30 seconds.

Not only does the device have the ability to charge a cell phone in under 30 seconds, but it will also result in batteries that can last for 10,000 recharge cycles rather than the traditional 1000 recharge cycles which we have in todays’ cell phones. Neither Eesha nor Intel has offered any details about the internal working of the charger. The technology is of course worth a lot of money.

Put simply, Eesha has invented a super-capacitor. The award given to her however reads “Design and Synthesis of Hydrogenated TiO2-Polyaniline Nanorods for Flexible High-Performance.” Eesha Khare will be going to Harvard this fall to pursue research in nanochemistry.

The first prize (the Gordon Moore Award) of $75,000 has been won by 19-year-old Ionut Budisteanu who used AI to make a low-cost self-driven car. The self-driven car uses a 3D radar and mounted cameras in a feasible design to detect traffic and lanes and real-time position of cars. The device costs $4,000.