mPhase and Rutgers Focus on ‘Smart' Battery

mPhase Technologies has undertaken a development project with Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, on a version of its nanotechnology-based “smart” battery that relies on alternative chemistries to potentially increase reserve on-demand power.

The work under way with Rutgers’ Energy Storage Research Group (ESRG) is designed to apply alternative chemistries to a battery architecture based on a Bell Labs discovery that liquid droplets of electrolyte will stay in a dormant state atop nanotextured surfaces until stimulated to flow, thereby triggering a reaction producing electric current. The super-hydrophobic nanopatterned structures have been shown to be effective in keeping such a battery in a dormant state, theoretically for decades, by keeping electrolyte and electrodes physically separated until activated. This is in contrast to conventional batteries that typically dissipate 7% of their stored energy each year.

While mPhase had earlier intended to undertake the research with funding jointly solicited with Rutgers’ Office of Corporate Liaison and Technology Transfer, the work has actually commenced, said Ronald A. Durando, mPhase’s chief executive.