sorbiforce
Ukrainian startup SorbiForce has developed a technology for utilizing agricultural waste to create batteries without metal.
The company, founded by materials scientist and entrepreneur Serhiy Kaminsky, says it uses only carbon, water, and salt to create batteries. Kaminsky came up with the idea after realizing that agriculture produces about 2.1 billion tons of waste annually. In addition, the company emphasizes that the dangerous and often very limited ways of recycling batteries further emphasize the urgent need for safer and more reliable solutions.
To create and scale up the production process environmentally friendly batteries at the end of the noughties, Kaminsky assembled a team of specialists and eventually managed to get on the list of promising startups at the Center for Innovation at the University of Arizona in the United States. After years of research, the developers managed to create a prototype sorption battery, which transfers electrons through a super-porous carbon layer from the cathode to the anode. The developers note that since both electrodes are made of carbon, the battery is protected from fire.
«What’s really interesting about our technology is that super-porous carbon materials actually get better with age The battery life can be up to 30 years if you can add more water», — says the marketing director at SorbiForce Kevin Drolet.
In addition, at the end of the battery’s service life, up to 95% of its cells can be decomposed into organic matter, and the remaining components can be reused. According to Drolet, unlike traditional Li-Ion batteries, which often become toxic plastic waste or pose a hazard during recycling, SorbiForce elements do not pose a risk of explosion, thermal acceleration or toxic leakage due to their metal-free chemical structure and closed design, even when cut in half.
First developments SorbiForce offers batteries from 60 kWh to 150 kWh. Drolet notes that the service life of these batteries is up to 6 thousand charge-discharge cycles.
«Compared to lithium-ion batteries, our capital costs are much lower because salt and battery materials are in great abundance here in the United States There is a great need to develop technologies that don’t catch fire, don’t explode, and are made in the US», — adds SorbiForce’s SEO director.
Source: Interesting Engineering