Aluminum-ion battery developed in Australia

An Australian clean technology company, Graphene Manufacturing Group (TSXV: GMG), has developed a super fast-charging, high-performance graphene aluminum-ion battery. The development work was done through an intellectual property collaboration between the GMG and The University of Queensland.

The new, patent pending battery is said to be superior to Li-ion technology with respect to safety and charging speed. It has high capacity, a secure and simplified supply chain (GMG makes graphene from local natural gas) and the technology is planet friendly.

The new technology also results in a battery with very low fire potential (less generated heat and less extra cooling) and lower environmental impact (more recyclable).

The Al-ion battery has a very high power density of up to 7,000 watts/kg – that means they can charge a phone for example in one to five minutes. The voltage is currently 1.7 volts, but GMG expects that will be increased. Expect long battery life, too: over 2,000 charge-discharge cycles in testing with no deterioration in performance.

GMG has executed a research agreement with the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology for development of Al-ion batteries. Under the terms, GMG will manufacture commercial prototypes for watches, phones, laptops, electric vehicles and grid storage.

Company CEO and managing director Craig Nicol said, “We are currently looking to bring coin cell commercial prototypes for customer testing in six months and a pouch pack commercial prototype – used in mobile phones, laptops etc. – for customer testing in 18 months. We are really excited about bringing this to market.”

More information can be found in GMG’s corporate presentation at www.GrapheneMG.com.