Titanium suboxide ceramic materials, typically Ti4O7 and Ti5O9, are manufactured by Atraverda Limited in the U.K. under the registered trade name of Ebonex. The materials are available in a number of forms for commercial use in applications that require an electrical conductor with excellent corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance. Atraverda manufactures Ebonex^® electrodes for use in water purification plants and has licensed the Ebonex^® technology for the concrete and building repair market. Previous work at Daimler Chrysler and at Renault has shown that surfaces which are thermally or plasma coated with Ebonex^® materials have improved tribological properties, with enhanced friction and wear characteristics. This approach is interesting for the inside of cylinder bores in internal combustion engines.

12 V Ebonex® bipolar lead acid battery

Atraverda’s mission is to provide an advanced energy storage solution, giving size and weight advantages over lead-acid chemistry and a substantial cost benefit over nickel-based technologies. This is being achieved through the development of a novel form of Ebonex^® material—a resin bonded composite prepared from Ebonex^® ceramic filler and a resin matrix—as an electrode substrate material in lead acid bipolar batteries. Bipolar batteries use a substrate to hold the positive and negative active materials and act as a cell wall. The Ebonex^® composite electrodes are prepared by conventional plastics processing procedures. The resulting plates are pasted with conventional lead pastes and cured in the normal manner. The plates are then assembled into batteries by stacking a number of bipolar plates between two end monopoles, e.g. 5 and 17 bipoles are required to fabricate a 12 V and 36 V battery respectively

A design study for a 36/42V automotive battery indicates that the weight and volume of a bipolar battery (20 Ah, 5 h rate, 10 kW) based on Ebonex^® composite electrodes would weigh 15 kg and occupy a volume of less than 7 litres. In comparison conventional 36/42 V lead acid designs are expected to weigh 24-28 kg and have a volume of 9-11 litres.

The batteries are also ideal in a modular configuration for hybrid electric vehicles, for example as a 144V 8Ah energy storage device.

For further information please contact
Dr Andrew Loyns
Managing Director
Atraverda Limited
The i-Centre
Oakham Business Park
Mansfield
Nottinghamshire NG18 5BR

Tel: +44(0) 1623 600621
Fax: +44(0) 1623 600622
Email: acloyns@atraverda.com
Internet: www.atraverda.com