Advances in conventional battery technology rely predominantly on incremental changes in material or electrolyte composition, however, the underlying production paradigm of “mixing inks from weakly coordinated, free-moving organic and inorganic components” has remained unchanged since the inception of battery research. The fundamental flaw of the current paradigm is that the inherent free motion of molecules and particles in such composite systems will lead, over time, to a detrimental loss of the desired chemical bias, to isotropic equilibrium, and finally to an end of battery performance.
During the ERC Proof of Concept grant “LiAnMAT”, we have achieved and patented two exceptional electrodes with superior-performance for portable batteries (ESuperBat), both of them close to or at the limits of theoretical capacities. Our electrodes have (i) an advantage in specific capacity by a factor of at least x5 to x10 over any hitherto produced, commercial electrode system. Further, our electrodes (ii) sustain physical bending without crack formation, and (iii) heat shocks (80 °C for 6 h) without loss of capacity and overall cycling performance.
This enables use of our electrodes in (i) continued battery use in scenarios where charging or replacement is difficult or impossible, such as in pacemaker batteries that currently need to be exchanged every 6 to 10 years, as (ii) wearable, flexible electronics, such as printed, smart labels, folding displays, and wearable sensors, and (iii) battery operation under environmentally demanding scenarios, such as power sources in geo-stationary satellites and battery-powered equipment deployed in deserts and hot biomes.
The results of this project form the intellectual property and trade secrets of a planned, Europe-based start-up company via the INAM AdMaLab Incubator Programme.
