NSF Award
9761362
*** 9761362 Xiao This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of exploiting the unique properties of an exciting new class of "nanophase" materials (ie. atomic-scale particles on the order of several manometers, where 1 nm = 10 angstroms) as the active ingredients for high performance rechargeable nickel alkaline batteries. US Nanocorp's (USN) principals have developed proprietary techniques for the synthesis and processing of nanostructred battery materials. USN has begun efforts to fabricate high density nickel electrodes where the active material is nanoporous (and mesoporous), so that the pore surface area remains high for effective electrolyte irrigation, yet the total pore volume is reduced in comparison to electrodes formulated from conventional and so called "spherical" nickel hydroxide. The increased density results in higher capacity. High utilization has been achieved by USN in preliminary lab cell tests. The Phase II program will develop prototype cells based on optimized electrodes. This novel approach can be applied to a wide array of battery materials. Rechargeable batteries comprise a word-wide business of more than $16 B/annum, of which alkaline batteries have a 20% market share ($3 B/annum). This would have profound implications for improved batteries for medical, commercial (power tool), and consumer applications, as well as large capacity batteries for cordless lawn mowers, scooters, electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. ***
