Canyon Country-based BioSolar Inc., developer of breakthrough energy storage technology and materials, announced Tuesday that the company is developing a breakthrough technology to significantly increase the capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries.

Based on the company’s internal analysis, a super battery built using its technology can double the range of a Tesla automobile, costs 4 times less, has faster charging time, longer life and can potentially break the $100/kWh cost barrier needed for mass market adoption of energy storage.

With the modern world running on electricity, the need for battery storage has never been greater. The ability to store energy, take it on the go, and use it later anytime and anywhere, has opened up a new world of “Killer Apps” such as long range electric vehicles, iPhones and other mobile devices, or time-shifting of renewable wind and solar energy for later use. The key to enabling these Killer Apps is better and lower cost batteries.

GTM Research and the Energy Storage Association predict that the energy storage market in the United States will triple in 2015, and will grow from $128 million in 2014 to $1.5 billion by 2019. Over 70% of installed energy storage capacity uses lithium-ion batteries, as the technology is proven and bankable. Lux Research predicts that the global energy storage market will rise to $50 billion by 2020.

Dr. David Lee, the company’s CEO said, “A battery contains two major parts, a cathode and an anode, that function together as the positive and negative sides. Today’s state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery is limited by the storage capacity of its cathode, while the anode can store much more. Inspired by nature, we are developing a novel cathode based on inexpensive conductive polymers and organic materials that can fully utilize the storage capacity of conventional anodes. By integrating our high capacity, high power and low-cost cathode with conventional anodes, battery manufacturers can create a super lithium-ion battery that can double the range of a Tesla, power an iPhone for 2 days straight, or store daytime solar energy for nighttime use.”

BioSolar’s novel high capacity cathode is engineered from a polymer, similar to that of low cost plastics and can hold 2 electrons for each molecular unit. Instead of conventional cathodes that use lithium-ion intercalation chemistry, which is inherently slow, the company’s technology exploits the fast redox-reaction properties of polymers to enable rapid charge and discharge.

BioSolar is currently funding a sponsored research program at the University of California, Santa Barbara (“UCSB”), to further develop its super battery technology. The lead inventors of the technology are UCSB professor Dr. Alan Heeger, the recipient of a Nobel Prize in 2000 for the discovery and development of conductive polymers, and Dr. David Vonlanthen, a project scientist and expert in energy storage at UCSB.

About BioSolar, Inc.

BioSolar is developing a breakthrough technology to double the storage capacity, lower the cost and extend the life of lithium-ion batteries. A battery contains two major parts, a cathode and an anode, that function together as the positive and negative sides. Today’s state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery is limited by the storage capacity of its cathode, while the anode can store much more. Inspired by nature, we are developing a novel cathode based on inexpensive conductive polymers and organic materials that can fully utilize the storage capacity of conventional anodes. By integrating our high capacity, high power and low-cost cathode with conventional anodes, battery manufacturers can create a super lithium-ion battery that can double the range of a Tesla, power an iPhone for 2 days straight, or store daytime solar energy for nighttime use. Founded with the vision of developing breakthrough energy technologies, BioSolar’s previous successes include the world’s first UL approved bio-based back sheet for use in solar panels.

To learn more about BioSolar, please visit our website at http://www.biosolar.com.