Aluminium-Celmet promises major battery boost

Posted on 29 Jun 2011 at 13:22, by

A new material dubbed 'Aluminium-Celmet' promises to boost mobile battery life up to three times, with small-scale production starting now and mass production on the horizon.

The material, developed by Sumitomo Electric Industries, is based on a technique where plastic foam is covered with an electrically conductive coating which is then nickel plated and the excess foam removed. The resultant material is like a conductive sponge, with a claimed 98% porosity and a three-dimensional mesh-like structure that makes it ideal for use in batteries.

While the company's existing nickel-based Celmet is efficient, the new Aluminium-Celmet promises to take the technology to a new level. Thanks to reduced weight - with aluminium featuring a specific gravity around one-third that of nickel - and reduced electrical resistivity - less than half that of nickel - Aluminium-Celmet promises some major capacity gains for batteries that choose to implement it.

Due to increased corrosion resistance compared to nickel-based Celmet, Aluminium-Celmet is suitable for use in lithium-ion batteries, as used in smartphones, laptops, and even electric vehicles. With Sumitomo claiming that a simple material swap-out in favour of Aluminium-Celmet can result in a capacity increase between 1.5 to 3 times, the company's technology promises to be a major boon for the burgeoning electric vehicle industry.

The relatively simple basis for Sumitomo's creation means that production has already begun on a small-scale basis, with mass production soon to follow.

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User comments

Patents

I just hope that not one of the big energy or oil corporations buys up the patents, "investing in green tech", to simply forget them at the bottom of the drawer.

By funkster on 2 Jul 2011