Monash betadine battery breakthrough begets new company

Engineering researchers from Monash University have formed a new lithium sulphur (Li-S) battery startup, armed with chemistry inspired by an over-the-counter antiseptic and initially targeting drone applications.

According to a statement from the university on Tuesday, the team behind Ghove Energy has “overcome one of the last remaining barriers to commercialisation” for the battery type. Li-S batteries have better energy density, are cheaper, and are environmentally gentler than the more mature lithium ion chemistry, but suffer slower charging speeds.

Ghove predicts that the breakthrough – the subject of a new paper in Advanced Materials – could be demonstrated in drones within a year.

“Inspired by the chemistry of betadine, a common household antiseptic, we found a way to accelerate the charge and discharge rates, making them a viable battery option for real-world heavy-duty use,” said the paper’s first author and PhD candidate, Maleesha Nishshanke.

Co-lead researcher and Director of the ARC Research Hub for Advanced Manufacturing with 2D Materials, Professor Mainak Majumder, said that Li-S batteries had previously struggled to maintain performance, though the new approach enabled batteries to handle a lot of power being taken out at once without being suffering.

“We’ve leveraged sulphur’s unique chemistry to make a battery that’s both safer and more efficient. With our new catalyst, we’ve overcome one of the last remaining barriers to commercialisation – charging speed,” said Majumder.

He added that the catalyst “significantly enhanced” C-rate performance in demonstrations of early proof-of-concept prototype cells. C-rate is the unit used to measure the speed at which a battery is fully charged or discharged.

Majumder estimated that commercial scaling and larger cell production could bring about energy densities As high as 400 watt hour per kilogram.

Ghove Energy is currently raising pre-seed funding.

Picture: supplied

Further reading

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