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With the worldwide primary (disposable) and secondary (rechargeable) battery market approaching $60 billion, there is tremendous pressure to meet the evolving needs of consumers. From computers to cell phones to power tools and hearing aids, battery power is a crucial element for enabling today's mobile world. For instance, the convergence of telecommunications and entertainment in handheld devices has dramatically increased demand for power in ever smaller configurations as users stream media, listen to music, browse the web, and make phone calls, all on the same system. Long battery life and instant rechargability are also key features for many applications. Providing sufficient energy for these devices, in small enough sizes and for a sufficient time period, is a formidable challenge.


Ever increasing power needs for devices that are shrinking in size present significant technological challenges in improving both energy density and power density. A battery's energy density is the amount of energy it can hold, while power density describes how quickly energy can be drawn from the battery at any given moment. The many functions of today's devices require batteries with both high energy density and power density, in both disposable and re-chargeable batteries. Considerable global R&D is ongoing to enhance these characteristics, but the rate of improvement for both primary metal air and secondary lithium ion battery advancements has slowed. Novel approaches are required to create smaller batteries that can hold larger charges and from which energy can be drawn more quickly to meet varied energy requirements.



As part of QuantumSphere's initiative to make dramatic increases in energy storage in the coming years, significant focus is directed towards improving the performance of electrodes for primary batteries, rechargeable batteries, and fuel cells. QSI has created improved electrode formulations incorporating high surface area nano metal catalysts. Of particular interest are power systems that have a high theoretical energy density, are rapidly rechargeable, and are low cost. Nano scale metals and alloys present a clear opportunity to provide more energy and power density in metal air, nickel metal hydride, and lithium ion batteries when used as catalysts. Catalyst materials are the main ingredients facilitating chemical reactions within the battery and play a key role at setting the energy and power densities of these devices. As compared to the micron scale, larger bulk size metal particles used as catalysts today, nanoscale catalyst materials provide a much greater surface area at just a fraction of the loading in the battery solution. This translates to commensurately higher reactivity, catalysis, energy density and power density.

For example, utilizing QuantumSphere's nano-integrated gas diffusion electrode, a 320% increase in power density is achieved in metal-air battery systems. This enables enhanced functionality in both consumer and military applications, where higher power and longer lifetime is required. QSI's nanomaterials, which utilize proprietary, automated, and scalable manufacturing processes, are achieving global success in this respect: in addition to developing its own portable power pack, an industry leader in the primary battery sector has partnered with QSI to develop a next generation product which QSI will support in mass production. In summation, incorporating nano metals as catalysts promises the potential to bridge the current gap between existing technology capability and equipment needs, and also meet the requirements of upcoming generations of battery driven portable and mobile devices.