Strategic Elements scales-up Battery Ink capability to 2,000 self-charging battery cells

Strategic Elements Ltd (ASX:SOR) has successfully tested five battery cells capable of charging themselves through energy harvested from humidity in the air. The company says the battery cells, 1-centimetre long but thinner than human hair, successfully harvested energy from humidity in the surrounding air and generated a minimum of 0.8 volts over a testing period of two hours. They recharged in the space of three minutes. Strategic Elements is confident one litre of Battery Ink could be used to produce up to 2,000 self-charging batteries and aims to produce a prototype battery pack of multiple connected battery ink cells producing 3.7 volts by the end of January. Powerful potential The self-charging battery technology is being developed under a collaboration with the University of New South Wales and CSIRO, partially funded by the Federal Government. The battery cells are thought to have substantial potential in Internet of Things (IOT) devices and wearable technologies, a market forecast to be worth US$15.9 billion in 2025. By generating electricity from humidity in the air or the surface of human skin, Strategic Elements’ batteries could theoretically charge wearable devices such as electronic skin patches and eliminate the need to remove them for manual charging. They have the potential to replace existing lithium-based batteries which have significant drawbacks including size, weight and rigidity, as well as well-documented safety issues. Shares jump SOR shares have been as much as 24.5% higher to 20.5 cents intra-day, approaching the four-year high of 21.5 cents reached on October 27. News last week that SOR had produced 1-litre of Battery Ink was also greeted positively by investors with shares rising 20 per cent. Printable neuromorphic memory potential Strategic Elements has also started testing its Nanocube Memory for its potential in printable brain-inspired (neuromorphic) computing. The Nanocube Memory structure and operation allows it to combine computing and memory in one place in a way similar to how biological neurons operate. Nanocube Memory will be tested for its potential in flexible, transparent, brain-inspired (neuromorphic) computing and emulate a series of synaptic functions. Results are on track to be released in December 2020.