A Waterloo professor has received $3 million in funding to further his work into greener, cheaper more energy-efficient silicon-based batteries.
Zhongwei Chen, Canada Research Chair in Advanced Materials for Clean Energy and a professor in Waterloo’s Department of Chemical Engineering, received the funding from Vancouver-based Newtech Power Inc. to co-develop a next-generation lithium-ion rechargeable battery that could be on the market within three or four years.
The innovative battery is environmentally safer and cheaper due to the relatively inexpensive silicon, and stores more energy than graphite-based lithium-ion batteries. It offers an increase in energy density of 40 to 60 per cent, allowing an electric car to travel up to 500 kilometres on a single charge.