NewHydrogen Inc. (NEWH)

[markp1950]

Designing the Better Mousetrap for a Super Charged Lithium-ion Battery
By Jana Adkins SCVBJ Editor
Posted: August 3, 2015 6:00 a.m.

That plastic drinking bottle you’re about to discard just could be the solution of the next generation of higher capacity, lower cost, longer lasting lithium-ion batteries if BioSolar Inc. of Santa Clarita makes the breakthrough they think they’re close to achieving with the University of California-Santa Barbara.

While the company isn’t actually working with your discarded plastic bottles, it has developed an innovative method of using a new hybrid of conductive plastic polymers, said its founder, David Lee, PhD.

After nine years of research and development in the renewable energy storage technology field, the firm’s breakthrough technology for a super battery is a step closer to reality for use in everyday products.

BioSolar just signed an agreement to extend funding for a research program at the UCSB for another year to further develop the technology. The company first started the jointly sponsored research in July 2014.

Technology, which electrical engineer and BioSolar’s CEO Lee helped design using a material never before used in lithium-ion batteries. BioSolar’s pioneering use the of a new material shows great promise in achieving Lee’s three goals – higher battery capacity, making the batteries cheaper, and longevity of the battery – all at a lower cost than today’s existing technology.

“Making truly green, renewable energy and making it affordable is the mission of the company,” Lee said.

A conventional lithium-ion battery uses materials that are sometimes very toxic and expensive to manufacture. Using an everyday plastic polymer allows BioSolar to lower the costs of production. And better yet, it’s designed to allow the transition from traditional production of its technology so simple that its process can slip right into a manufacturers’ existing process without having to change out their machinery or tooling - all without having any toxic waste disposal issues.

“Adaption of this technology is really simple,” Lee said. “And we’re proposing to use material that is non-toxic so it can be discarded later without causing environmental damage.”

Energy storage technology is the key to energy independence, and much of the technology developed in the last 10 years has been headed in this direction because renewable energy is cheaper than traditional fossil fuel energy, he said.

“We can make the environment cleaner for children. Our technology is based on using a new material that has never been used for lithium-ion batteries,” Lee said. “It’s the most promising technology that provides reasonable cost storage systems. And the costs are projected to go down with newer innovations.”

This isn’t BioSolar’s first foray into the field of storable energy either. The company’s first success was the creation of a bio-based material for solar panels that is not toxic or expensive and doesn’t create problems with disposing material into the environment in the manufacturing process.

Success on a broad scale, however, has had to wait out a cycle of cheap production in China which dramatically cut the cost for solar panels. However, the solar companies will soon be struggling with looking for solutions that allow the solar panels made in China to last through the warranty periods, Lee said.

He predicts solar panel companies will be looking for better, and cheaper, technology within the next few years that will push his firm’s technology into the forefront of the market.

BioSolar’s super battery technology was developed by Lee and UCSB - developed with UCSB’s Dr. Alan Heeger, a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize winner for the discovery and development of conductive polymers.

“I’m honored to have Dr. Heeger as a partner,” Lee said. “He gladly agreed to work with us.”

Also working on the project at UCSB is Dr. David Vonlanthen, a project scientist and expert in energy storage. UCSB itself boasts six Nobel Laureates (five in sciences and engineering) and one winner of the prestigious Millennium Technology Prize. The university was also ranked no. 7 in the world in 2014, by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, for Engineering/Technology and Computer Science.

“We are confident that this team of scientific professionals will continue to progress the technology closer to our goal of achieving a $100/kilowatt-hour cost milestone for energy storage," Lee said.

While the lithium battery field is competitive – Lee estimates thousands of new battery patents have been filed by a lot of major companies – as far as he knows most are taking the conventional approach to battery production, he said. Whereas BioSolar’s approach was to use a completely different material, making for a better outcome and using less costly technology.

“Polymers are generated a lot cheaper Most lithium-ion batteries are made from carbon or methane-based components. Some of those materials aren’t toxic, but the processes to make them are toxic,” Lee said. “Polymers are much easier to handle; the process is simple. You can dissolve them in water and anyway you want it without forming hazardous materials.”

Working hand-in-hand with UCSB, BioSolar turned their research into prototypes that could be adapted by companies for use in their devices, doubling the range of power for a car battery to a smart phone or storing solar energy for nighttime use. With the extension of the research project, the team plans to focus on building half-cell cathode prototypes – using a new cathode material which no one has ever tried before - for charging demonstration purposes in everyday products, Lee said.

As a small company, BioSolar is looking for partners who can use technology in their production and believes their super battery and supercapacitor energy-storing technology is highly attractive to many companies allowing them to produce longer lasting batteries for a much lower cost of manufacturing.

“I always had in back of my mind to use the skills I learned and technology I was familiar with to contribute to the environment of world,” Lee said. “These use an environmentally-friendly material which we are really proud of,” Lee said.”