polymer batteries Polymer, Replacement for Lithium-ion Batteries?

[G. David Felt]

Polymer, Replacement for Lithium-ion Batteries?

Lithium-ion batteries are known to be flammable and like all batteries require time to charge back up. What if you could change hours into minutes with no flammable issues and do it all at room temperature? This funding comes from a variety of strategic investors from the battery manufacturing, consumer electronics and electric vehicle ecosystem who will be working with Ionic to speed development into a commercial produced solid state battery.

IONIC Materials has secured $65 million in funding to speed up their Revolutionary Polymer Electrolyte Solid State Battery. According to other reports, Dyson who had invested $90 million into new solid state battery technology only to walk away from it due to patents held by a michigan university is one of the principle investors. Samsung is another one along with China's A123, Hitachi of Japan and Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi also of Japan.

To Quote what has been published by Axios: 

Top assertions by Ionic:

• Lithium ions move as fast or faster through its polymer than they can through a liquid electrolyte system with a separator. That alone has boggled a lot of battery researchers, since, physically speaking, it should be harder for ions to move through a solid.
• The polymer works at 5 volts — another surprising leap in energy performance — and can be manufactured like plastic wrap, unlike the expensive and absurdly complex methods that have hobbled other solid state efforts.
• And all of this happens at room temperature, rather than 60 degrees centigrade, approximately the level at which everyone else's polymer functions.

Why it matters: If Ionic's claims are independently validated and its material can be improved to withstand a punishing regime of up to 1,000 cycles, it could usher in much more affordable electric cars and longer-running smartphones.

It would seem that the Holy grail is a solid state fast charging battery at room temperature.

IONIC Materials web site

News Release

Axios story

Dyson Story

[balthazar]

cost? cost? cost?

[G. David Felt]

4 minutes ago, balthazar said:

cost? cost? cost?

Nothing has been stated other than this design should help batteries hit the magic $100 per kWh of the battery pack.