September 15, 2017 | News Brief | alpha-En Corp., a clean technology company that has developed a patent pending process to produce high purity thin film lithium metal anodes and associated products sustainably, was awarded $750,000 from the US Department of Energy’s Office of Technology Transition Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). This funding will be used to commercialize Argonne’s proprietary highly conductive solid-state electrolyte coating for alpha-En’s lithium metal anodes. The merger of these technologies further enhances alpha-En’s process and the resulting product. Argonne’s technology in conjunction with alpha-En’s will create an efficient process for a new product allowing for a faster path to market.
The office of Technology Transition supports the effort to move the most promising and impactful technologies from the Department of Energy’s National Laboratories to the marketplace. This competitive award is selected from applicants in the private sector working with the United States National Laboratories to advance new technologies. Projects selected for this award will receive an equal amount of non-federal funds from their industry partners who will bring the product to market.
alpha-En has an existing Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with Argonne National Laboratory to optimize the company’s process to produce high purity thin film lithium metal anodes at room temperature for next-generation batteries such as lithium sulfur and solid state.
“Our partnership with Argonne National Laboratory gives us access to experts across scientific disciplines and cutting-edge facilities, which allows us to develop our technology efficiently and cost effectively,” said alpha-En founder and executive chairman Jerome Feldman. “Our Team at Argonne, led by our Director of Business Development Emilie Bodoin who is the principal investigator of the CRADA, has been integral in our research and development efforts. We are thrilled to have access to Argonne’s solid-state technology and this funding to expedite the path to commercialization.”
