Another Battery Breakthrough? UCF Says Yes

“AMPAC scientists independently confirmed that Planar Energy’s new generation of solid state electrolytes have ionic conductivity metrics comparable to liquid electrolytes used in traditional chemical batteries.” -Dr. M.J. Soileau, a UCF professor of optics, electrical & computer engineering and physics

Researchers at the University of Central Florida’s (UCF) Advanced Materials Processing and Analysis Center have reportedly verified findings by Planar Energy that could lead to dramatic cost and performance improvements in large format batteries required for practical electric vehicles.

“This fundamental materials breakthrough, coupled with our proprietary low-cost manufacturing process, will render traditional chemical batteries obsolete,” declared Scott Faris, president and CEO of Planar Energy. “It will allow solid state battery fabrication that will enable manufacturers to increase their capacity by 200-to-300 percent, while reducing costs more than 50 percent,” he continued. “This is what the automotive industry needs to make electric vehicles practical and affordable.”

Planar Energy will be showcasing at the U.S. Department of Energy’s ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit 2010, March 1-2.

Following are highlights of key test results:

* Planar Energy has identified a new class of solid-state electrolytes that have conductivity of 10-4 in measured samples and 10-3 in functional battery calculations. The conductivity ranges displayed allow for high-rate batteries required in automotive applications.
* Planar Energy’s solid state electrolyte materials are deposited - stacked - as thin films directly on active layers in the battery, eliminating the historic process of having to deposit films on separate substrates and then mechanically joining them.
* Planar Energy’s electrolytes demonstrate the same performance level of liquid electrolytes currently used by the lithium-ion industry, but they are in a solid form factor.
* Planar Energy’s change in form factor greatly simplifies the battery manufacturing process and enables existing battery chemistries to function at 95 percent of their theoretical value.
* Planar Energy’s batteries will be intrinsically safe, allowing customers to further reduce packaging requirements, as well as simplify the battery management system.
* Planar Energy’s batteries have virtually no self discharge, allowing them to sit for long periods of time while retaining their charge. Traditional lithium-ion batteries have high discharge rates that are problematic for automotive applications.

Source: UCF Today