LONDON — Nexeon Ltd. (Abingdon, England), a company formed in 2006 to commercialize battery research conducted at Imperial College in London, is getting ready to license its silicon-anode technology for use with lithium-ion batteries.

The company is in talks with battery makers and could supply processed silicon material as part of a deal as a "drop-in" process addition. The use of silicon anodes will lead to lithium-ion batteries with higher energy density and longer life between charges, Nexeon said.

Carbon is the usual anode material in use today, although silicon has been known to offer potential as a superior anode material. Until now, silicon has suffered from physical instability when repeatedly charged and discharged. Nexeon's approach solves this problem by changing the physical form of the silicon. It would appear, to judge from Nexeon patents that Nexeon has used micrometer scale etching of silicon wafers to increase the surface area of silicon available to act. Micrometer grain size silicon powder is also discussed in the Nexeon patents.

Nexeon was founded as a spin-out from Imperial Innovations, and the technology is based on work done by Professor Mino Green, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London.

Nexeon has successfully completed several rounds of funding, including the raising of £10 million (about $16.6 million) in venture capital, earlier in 2009. Nexeon has R&D facilities and a pilot plant at Culham, Oxfordshire. This allows Nexeon to support battery manufacturers in adopting the technology. One of the highest profile potential applications of the technology is electric vehicles where a high capacity and power to weight ratio is critical.

Scott Brown, who was appointed CEO of Nexeon earlier this year, said: "The commercial discussions already underway with key players in the industry position us well for the future."

Related links and articles:

www.nexeon.co.uk

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