Sep 16 2008
QuantumSphere, Inc., a leading developer of advanced catalyst materials, electrode devices, and related technologies and systems for portable power and clean-energy applications, today announced that it has filed a key patent for technology it has developed that extends the capacity of rechargeable lithium ion batteries up to five times. Next-generation batteries featuring this technology could dramatically improve the operating life of portable consumer electronics, hybrid-electric vehicle range, and a wide variety of energy storage applications.
This news follows a previous QuantumSphere battery announcement highlighting the development of a high-rate, paper-thin, nano-enabled electrode for disposable batteries. This earlier breakthrough patent pending air-electrode design increased power output by 320% in zinc-air cells, providing roughly 4x more power than equivalent sized alkaline batteries, and is expected to be commercialized in 2009.
“The electrodes our company is developing will expand battery capacity in a profound way, without a sacrifice in safety. Instead of four hours of operating time on a laptop computer, a single charge could last up to 12 hours and provide users with enough computing time for a complete round-trip flight between Los Angeles and New York,” said Kevin Maloney, president and CEO of QuantumSphere. “This important research is another example of QuantumSphere’s focused plan to bring next-generation, high-capacity lithium ion battery systems to market. We believe this is a commercially viable technology that will have a major impact in a variety of consumer, industrial, and transportation applications.”
Today’s patent filing covers a novel electrode structure enriched with nano lithium particles that increases the fuel source in a rechargeable lithium ion battery, thus increasing battery life. QuantumSphere intends to commercialize the technology to improve next-generation batteries for energy storage, consumer, and transportation applications.
“QuantumSphere has created electrodes with much higher lithium capacities than current state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries, as described in this patent application,” said Subra Iyer, principal technologist and co-inventor at QuantumSphere. “In the next phase of the QuantumSphere research efforts, we will further improve these anode and cathode electrodes and formulate electrolytes with wide electrochemical windows. All of this is part of a structured research approach to create new high-voltage battery chemistries, enabling both higher energy density and higher power density in next-generation rechargeable lithium ion batteries, taking advantage of the newly improved anode, cathode, and electrolyte molecular architectures.”