Santa Ana-based startup QuantumSphere Inc said this week it has filed for a patent on a technology that can increase the capacity of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries as much as fivefold.  Laptops could operate up to 12 hours on a single charge rather than the few hours a charge lasts now. 

Beyond batteries, QuantumSphere's work has potential application in other renewable energy production or storage technologies, such as hydrogen electrolysis and solar technologies. The company recently began producing a high purity copper- indium- gallium alloy for application in low-cost thin film solar cell production.

The company's focus is on making nano metals for green-energy applications. QuantumSphere has manufactured a number of metal and metal alloy nanoparticles including iron, silver, copper, nickel, cobalt and manganese.

Nano metals present an opportunity to provide more energy and power density in zinc-air 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 in setting the energy and power densities of these devices.

This video shows evidence of the much greater catalytic activity in nano aluminum compared with inert aluminum, which would not catch light at all. In this case you would need a lot less nano material than the micron-sized particles to do the same work.

QuantumSphere's products are achieving phenomenal results. Recently the company published data showing that using its nano materials as the catalyst in the zinc air battery resulted in a 320% increase in power density. Compared to the metal particles used as catalysts today, nano-scale materials have 2000% greater surface area, which greatly increases reactivity, catalysis, energy density and power density. As a result, much more power can be stored in a lithium ion battery without the potential for the overheating and runaway chemical reactions plaguing this technology today.

GM, which says it would like to see a battery with three times the capacity of current batteries, and today is hunting for a talented expert on staff, surely will find this news encouraging.

Via Edmunds' Green Car Advisor