Yet another US developer claims a “breakthrough energy storage technology ! Biosolar announced that the company is developing a breakthrough technology to significantly increase the capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries.
Based on the company’s internal analysis, a super battery built using its technology can double the range of a Tesla automobile, costs four times less, has faster charging time, longer life and can potentially break the $100/kWh cost barrier needed for mass market adoption of energy storage.
Dr. David Lee, the company’s CEO, said: “Today’s state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery is limited by the storage capacity of its cathode, while the anode can store much more. Inspired by nature, we are developing a novel cathode based on inexpensive conductive polymers and organic materials that can fully utilise the storage capacity of conventional anodes. By integrating our high capacity, high power and low-cost cathode with conventional anodes, battery manufacturers can create a super lithium-ion battery that can double the range of a Tesla, power an iPhone for two days straight, or store daytime solar energy for nighttime use.”
BioSolar’s novel high capacity cathode is engineered from a polymer, similar to that of low cost plastics and can hold two electrons for each molecular unit. Instead of conventional cathodes that use lithium-ion intercalation chemistry, which is inherently slow, the company’s technology exploits the fast redox-reaction properties of polymers to enable rapid charge and discharge.
BioSolar is currently funding a sponsored research program at the University of California, Santa Barbara (“UCSB”), to further develop its super battery technology. The lead inventors of the technology are UCSB professor Dr. Alan Heeger, the recipient of a Nobel Prize in 2000 for the discovery and development of conductive polymers, and Dr. David Vonlanthen, a project scientist and expert in energy storage at UCSB.
