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Primary Battery with Highest Energy Density

Primary (non-rechargeable) batteries have energy density three times higher than Li-ion, thus are critical when recharging is impractical, such as medical implants and IoT sensors. Despite increasing demand, there have been few innovations in fundamental cell chemistries for 40 years. HaloGen’s battery can boost the energy density of state-of-the-art by 50%, while also improving safety, with little/no increase in cost.

Critical Need for the Technology

Lithium primary (non-rechargeable) batteries have the highest energy densities among all battery types, making them the go-to for applications where recharging is impractical but lifetime and reliability are non-negotiable. Primary batteries are therefore core components of stand-alone electronic devices such as medical implants, unmanned vehicles, and sensors for distributed or remote monitoring, with a collective $33B market. In these applications, the operational life of the device is determined by the battery: a pacemaker becomes nonfunctional when the battery dies and must be replaced by surgery, whereas an IoT sensor stops operating when it depletes its power supply, placing a premium on maximizing energy per weight and volume.

Unfortunately, the ever-rising demand for higher energy has not been matched by R&D advances, with few innovations in cell chemistries in 40 years. HaloGen’s patent-pending catholyte (cathode+electrolyte) can be used in place of conventional electrolytes in Li primary battery, significantly decreasing the dead weight inside the cell, i.e., packing more energy into a fixed form factor or achieving the same delivered energy for a much smaller and lighter battery. This technology will unlock a path to the highest energy battery of any on the market while retaining favorable safety/stability characteristics and cost parity.

Supplemental Need for this Technology

Higher energy density results in less frequent battery replacement, effectively mitigating environmental impacts of primary batteries. Additionally, primaries are the key for wireless installation of IoT sensors, and high energy density minimizes device maintenance needs. New use cases will arise when sensors could be installed in locations previously not possible.

Competition

Existing Primary Battery Companies

  • The leading primary battery companies all use traditional primary battery chemistries which have seen relatively little performance growth over the past few decades. Note that our technology does not require re-inventing the wheel, but can instead capitalize on existing manufacturing lines, processes, etc. and the unprecedented high-energy regime of our battery will be the key differentiator.

Alternative Technologies

  • Other novel Li batteries: Recently, researchers have explored other Li battery chemistries including Li−gas batteries and Li−organic batteries. These batteries show high energy density numbers, but their realistic cell-level performance metrics are still in question.
  • Fuel cells: Fuel cells are also high-energy power sources. However, they are usually open systems and require fuel and oxidant supply, thus are more suitable for transportation and as stationary power systems. These markets exhibit no overlap with ours, since we focus on compact devices where size and weight are critical.

Potential Markets

Primaries, representing >20% of the battery market, are a long-standing workhorse of the battery field. There are strong unmet needs for higher-energy primary batteries in: medical devices, such as pacemakers, defibrillators, cardiac event monitors, and emerging smart implantable/wearable devices; Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, such as asset tracking, keyless entry, smoke/CO alarms, electronic toll collections, smart meters, among other emerging IoT technologies; and other dismounted power needs such as drones and unmanned underwater vehicles.