A Massachusetts start-up company today plans to unveil what it claims is a major breakthrough in battery design: technology that it claims can make solid-state alkaline batteries a viable alternative to lithium-ion and other high-energy storage technologies.
While alkaline batteries can be made far more cheaply and safely than today’s lithium-ion batteries, they have not been rechargeable, which has prevented their use in personal computers, smartphones and electric vehicles.
But Ionic says it has developed an alkaline battery that can be recharged hundreds of times. It would also not be prone to the combustion issues that have plagued lithium-ion batteries in recent times – particularly those used in Samsung smartphones.
Ionic says its battery can be made using continuous manufacturing processes similar to the making of plastic wrap. It has demonstrated up to 400 recharge cycles for its prototypes and company executives claim they will be able to triple that in coming months.
Ionic planned to make its announcement in Colorado today at a conference for the 35th anniversary of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a sustainable-energy research group
