FlashCharge Battery Technology

Our fast charging battery technology is based on the novel introduction of a mediator component into the solid electrolyte of the supercapacitor. The mediator improves all the characteristics of a typical solid-state supercapacitor, allowing it to compete — for the first time ever — with lithium-ion batteries in regard to energy storage capability, while keeping the supercapacitor’s ability to fast charge.

Supercapacitor Diagram – click/tap to enlarge

Our supercapacitor is a sandwich formed by: electrode / solid electrolyte / membrane / solid electrolyte / electrode (the cell). This cell is packaged into a chemical and electrically neutral shell. The cells can be stacked with proper electrodes’ connection to create a common battery configuration.

The electrodes are made of a material with high porosity to maximize the contact surface with the electrolyte. The solid electrolyte is permeated with a solid solvent and a salt capable of dissociation into electrically charged atoms or molecules (ions/cations).

The electrolyte also contains carbon black powder and the mediator. The mediator is a substance subject to redox reaction, facilitating electron transfer to create more electrically charged elements in the electrolyte layer. The carbon black does not react chemically with the other substances and works as an extension of the electrode to substantially improve its contact surface inside the electrolyte.

When applying an electric potential across the electrodes (charging phase), one electrode will instantaneously carry a negative charge (anode) and the other a positive charge (cathode). The carbon black powder contained in both electrolyte layers is charged with the same polarity of the corresponding electrodes, improving the storage capability.

Furthermore, during the charge, the mediator accepts electrons from the anode to form negative charge centers in the electrolyte.

Under this scheme, the supercapacitor is able to considerably increase the amount of charge stored by utilizing the additional storage capability offered by the carbon black powder and the mediator.

When the supercapacitor is disconnected from the charging source, the membrane—which is not electron conducting—does not allow electrons in the anode to flow toward the cathode to neutralize the charge asymmetry between the electrodes.

Because the charge is accumulated through two reversible reactions with virtually no memory, the process of charge/discharge can be repeated tens of thousands of times without suffering substantial reduction in the supercapacitor’s ability of storing energy.

Energy Storage Devices Chart – click/tap to enlarge

FlashCharge Batteries’ current research and development is aimed at designing a cell that will exceed the energy storage capability of lithium-ion batteries. New materials and construction techniques will create a higher charge accumulation per units of volume and improve the contact surface among the several layers of the cell.

These two lines of development are expected to double the specific energy and energy density of our mediator/carbon black, while improving the specific power and the power density, therefore offering more energy storage and with much faster charges.