Penn Professors Develop New Battery Technology

Two professors at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) have developed a technology that may lead to the marketing of the first plastic battery by the end of this decade.

The technology could represent the most significant advance in batteries since the development almost a century ago of the common lead-acid battery, Dennis Signorovitch, director of public affairs at Allied Corporation, the company licensed to develop and market the battery, said yesterday.

C&D Batteries, a subsidiary of Allied and the largest North American battery manufacturer, will spend $5 million over the next two to five years to test the commercial feasibility of the battery, a spokesman for George Moser, president of C&D, said yesterday.

Research conducted at UPenn indicates that the rechargeable plastic battery could be ten times more powerful and much lighter and long-lasting than a comparable lead-acid battery, the type most widely used today, Alan MacDiarmid, professor of Chemistry, said yesterday.

The most exciting commercial application of the battery would be the electric car, MacDiarmid said, adding that it could be "the technological breakthrough the industry needs."

Electric cars now require a battery charge after only about 60 miles, but the plastic batteries would allow cars to run three times as far before needing a recharge, Alan Heeger, the other inventor and acting vice provost for research at UPenn, said yesterday.

If the batteries are commercialized the university would receive a part of the royalties, of which 20 to 40 per cent would accrue to the professors.

The new batteries use technology which chemically treat plastic, so that it can conduct electricity.

The technology's other possible applications range from wristwatches to utility power generators. The invention could also be valuable to solar technology because it can store large capacities of energy during periods of darkness, MacDiarmid said.

"It is very exciting that while working on esoteric mathematical physics, we were able to find these fantastic practical applications," Heeger said.