Boulder Ionics liquid electrolytes could double storage of ultracapacitors and improve batteries by up to ten times

Boulder Ionics’ ionic-liquid-based electrolytes enable a new generation of energy storage devices with superior performance, improved safety and lower costs. The company’s novel high-throughput synthesis process produces electrochemical-grade materials in minutes rather than days. This dramatic reduction in processing time enables a very low capital cost for the production equipment, minimizes labor costs, and improves safety.

Boulder Ionics’ patent-pending intellectual property covers novel reactor designs, methods of synthesis, synthetic routes and compositions of matter. Our synthesis platform technology scales from kilograms to hundreds of metric tons.

Technology Review – Boulder Ionics—is developing a type of electrolyte that would enable high-performance batteries. The electrolyte, made from ionic liquids—salts that are molten below 100 C—can operate at high voltages and temperatures, isn’t flammable, and doesn’t evaporate. Ionic liquids are normally expensive to produce, but Boulder Ionics is developing a cheaper manufacturing process.

Replacing conventional electrolytes with ionic liquids could double the energy storage capacity of ultracapacitors by allowing them to be charged to higher voltages. That could make it possible to replace a starter battery in a car with a battery the size of a flashlight, Martin says.

The electrolytes could also help improve the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries, the kind used in electric vehicles and mobile phones; and they could help make rechargeable metal-air batteries practical. In theory, such batteries could store 10 times as much energy as conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Martin says his company’s process could actually make ionic liquids that are cheaper than conventional electrolytes per watt-hour of energy storage in the batteries they enable.

The company is reducing the cost of making them in two main ways. First, it’s switching from a batch process to a continuous one. This is far faster—it takes six minutes to make ionic liquid electrolyte, compared to three days for a conventional process—and allows the company to produce more material with a given-size piece of equipment, which reduces capital costs. Instead of building a large chemical plant, it would be possible to make enough ionic liquid for 100,000 electric cars in a space the size of a living room, Martin says.

The continuous process also gives Boulder Ionics more precise control over the chemical reactions involved, which reduces impurities. Martin says this makes costly purification steps unnecessary. Scaling up continuous production could prove a challenge, however.

For use in ultracapacitors, the new ionic liquid electrolyte can simply replace a conventional one. “It’s a nearly drop-in replacement, compatible with existing production lines,” Martin says. But battery makers will need to switch to new electrode materials that operate at higher voltages to take advantage of the high-voltage resistance of ionic liquids in lithium-ion batteries.

Ionic liquids are suitable for rechargeable metal-air batteries because the electrolyte in such a battery is exposed to the air, and ionic liquids do not evaporate. At least one company, Fluidic Energy, is hoping to make metal-air batteries practical by using ionic liquids.

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Boulder Ionics liquid electrolytes could double storage of ultracapacitors and improve batteries by up to ten times

Boulder Ionics’ ionic-liquid-based electrolytes enable a new generation of energy storage devices with superior performance, improved safety and lower costs. The company’s novel high-throughput synthesis process produces electrochemical-grade materials in minutes rather than days. This dramatic reduction in processing time enables a very low capital cost for the production equipment, minimizes labor costs, and improves safety.

Boulder Ionics’ patent-pending intellectual property covers novel reactor designs, methods of synthesis, synthetic routes and compositions of matter. Our synthesis platform technology scales from kilograms to hundreds of metric tons.

Technology Review – Boulder Ionics—is developing a type of electrolyte that would enable high-performance batteries. The electrolyte, made from ionic liquids—salts that are molten below 100 C—can operate at high voltages and temperatures, isn’t flammable, and doesn’t evaporate. Ionic liquids are normally expensive to produce, but Boulder Ionics is developing a cheaper manufacturing process.

Replacing conventional electrolytes with ionic liquids could double the energy storage capacity of ultracapacitors by allowing them to be charged to higher voltages. That could make it possible to replace a starter battery in a car with a battery the size of a flashlight, Martin says.

The electrolytes could also help improve the storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries, the kind used in electric vehicles and mobile phones; and they could help make rechargeable metal-air batteries practical. In theory, such batteries could store 10 times as much energy as conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Martin says his company’s process could actually make ionic liquids that are cheaper than conventional electrolytes per watt-hour of energy storage in the batteries they enable.

The company is reducing the cost of making them in two main ways. First, it’s switching from a batch process to a continuous one. This is far faster—it takes six minutes to make ionic liquid electrolyte, compared to three days for a conventional process—and allows the company to produce more material with a given-size piece of equipment, which reduces capital costs. Instead of building a large chemical plant, it would be possible to make enough ionic liquid for 100,000 electric cars in a space the size of a living room, Martin says.

The continuous process also gives Boulder Ionics more precise control over the chemical reactions involved, which reduces impurities. Martin says this makes costly purification steps unnecessary. Scaling up continuous production could prove a challenge, however.

For use in ultracapacitors, the new ionic liquid electrolyte can simply replace a conventional one. “It’s a nearly drop-in replacement, compatible with existing production lines,” Martin says. But battery makers will need to switch to new electrode materials that operate at higher voltages to take advantage of the high-voltage resistance of ionic liquids in lithium-ion batteries.

Ionic liquids are suitable for rechargeable metal-air batteries because the electrolyte in such a battery is exposed to the air, and ionic liquids do not evaporate. At least one company, Fluidic Energy, is hoping to make metal-air batteries practical by using ionic liquids.

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks