Nexeon has received a strong signal of investor confidence with the purchase of several £million of its shares by Imperial Innovations Group and Invesco. Both investors are current investors and boosted their holdings when the shares became available as a result of the disposal of the Partnerships UK ventures portfolio. PUK Ventures previously held 10% of the shares in Nexeon.

Nexeon’s technology replaces the carbon anode found in current Li-ion batteries with a silicon-based equivalent that produces higher energy density and longer operating times between charges.

Market applications for silicon-based Li-ion batteries are strong, as the higher power to weight ratio is important for applications in the automotive sector, where it could lead to the development of electric vehicles with increased driving range and lower weight. In consumer electronics, benefits include longer operating times between charges, brighter display screens and smaller devices.

“We view this investment as a firm vote of confidence both in the potential for our unique technology, and in our recent progress“, said Dr Paul Atherton, Chairman of Nexeon, who is also a non-executive director of Imperial Innovations.

Nexeon has recently moved to new facilities in Milton Park, Oxfordshire, where it has established a new Head Office and a manufacturing pilot line on which the Company can demonstrate the performance of new anode materials in prototype battery cells.

Nexeon is a leader in the development of Li-ion batteries that use silicon in place of carbon as the anode material, resulting in higher energy density and longer operating time between charges. Applications requiring higher rechargeable battery performance include many consumer products including mobile phones and laptop computers, and on a larger scale, electric vehicles.

“We’re delighted with our new home”, says Ian McDonald, Director of Engineering and Operations at Nexeon, who masterminded the operation. “It represents an important milestone in our development which began at Imperial College London.  We have a much more efficient layout, and now have room for further expansion.”

Nexeon has recently achieved several important technical milestones, including the completion of 500 full charge / discharge cycles without significant fade being observed.

“We continue to make strong technical progress against our technical milestones”, commented Dr Bill Macklin, CTO of Nexeon.  “We expect to make even faster progress now we have taken delivery of our second pilot plant and have completed our move to our new facilities.”

These agreements, which are revenue earning for Nexeon, involve the sampling of specially prepared silicon materials and data from Nexeon’s manufacturing pilot line in Oxfordshire. The ‘Gen-1’ materials have proved to be highly reproducible in Nexeon’s own testing.

These initial MEAs are likely to be followed by more such agreements now in the pipeline, and represent a strong expression of interest for silicon anode Li-ion batteries. The higher energy density and longer lifetimes of these batteries will provide longer operating times between charges, brighter screens for laptops and smart phones and facilitate the development of electric vehicles with increased driving range and lower weight.

Silicon provides far higher performance than current carbon materials as an anode material, offering lithium storage capacity around ten times that of carbon by weight.

“We have seen tremendous interest in our progress towards high performance batteries based on our anode technology“, says Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon. “Further commercial progress is expected in the near future.”

Nexeon recently announced the achievement of another important milestone when its cells successfully completed 500 full charge / discharge cycles at 1200mAh/g for the anode without significant capacity fade being observed.

Nexeon produced the cells at its research and development facility using its first generation silicon material. The 500 cycles performance level is regarded by the battery industry as an important performance measure, and is considerably higher than the 300 or so full cycles typically considered necessary for consumer applications such as mobile phones and laptop computers.

In addition to providing higher capacity cells, the superior nature of silicon as an efficient anode material allows less material to be used. This has economic benefits, but can also be important where weight is critical, for example in electric vehicle applications.

“We were confident that we would reach this level of performance, but it still gives our technical team a tremendous boost actually to achieve 500 cycles“, says Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon. “In fact the test cells continue to clock up more cycles, and this strongly vindicates our belief in the potential of our silicon anodes to provide increased energy capacity while cutting costs and improving battery safety.”

Proving the durability and robustness of silicon anodes is an important first step in making this technology available to battery manufacturers. A future step involves reproducing the results in different cell types, and then optimising the battery configuration to take full advantage of the higher performance silicon anode.

Just a few weeks ago, Nexeon picked up two major Rushlight awards, including the overall Clean Energy Award for “The most significant achievement towards the exploitation and adoption of clean fuels”.

Nexeon has picked up two major accolades from the Rushlight organisation, including the overall Clean Energy Award. This is given for “the most significant achievement towards the exploitation and adoption of clean fuels”. Nexeon’s progress in improving the performance potential of Li-ion batteries will enable greater use of rechargeable cells and a reduction in the disposal issues associated with single use cells.

Nexeon has also won the Rushlight Powered Transport Award for innovation that offers the most significant potential advancement in the commercial development of lower greenhouse gas emission modes of powered transport.

The Rushlight Awards focus on the technology and innovation achievements of organizations that are making significant progress towards achieving international goals for the production and usage of energy, fuel, power generation, waste and water. The awards were presented at a black tie Gala Dinner at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London.

Key criteria used by the judges in deciding the Clean Energy award included: the importance and novelty of the innovation, the size of the problem that has been solved and the technology advancement that has been made. In addition, the judges rated the holistic impact of the innovation on the environment.

Recognition of Nexeon comes after four years of working on the use of silicon anodes to increase the energy density and lifetime between charges of Li-ion batteries. The Company was founded as a spin-out from Imperial Innovations, and the technology is based on work done by Professor Mino Green’s group at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College, London.

Nexeon has successfully completed several rounds of funding, including the raising of £10 million last year, and has established research and development facilities, including a pilot plant that is capable of producing materials and a pilot line for demonstrating new anode performance in prototype battery cells.

“We are absolutely delighted that the extent and significance of our team’s achievements have been recognized“, said Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon, on receiving the awards. “We are continuing to make substantial progress both in materials performance and in commercial discussions about the deployment of our technology.”

In January, Nexeon announced that it is part of a UK consortium awarded almost £1 million in funding by the Technology Strategy Board to produce a prototype for a plug-in electric vehicles application.

The Clean & Cool Mission 2010 is a collaboration between the Technology Strategy Board, UK Trade & Investment, market intelligence company Polecat, social innovation broker Volans and Enterprise UK. The companies selected will be travelling from 20 Feb to 26 Feb to meet investors, potential partners, media and peers on the US West Coast.

The mission will give the 20 selected innovative and growing clean technology companies the opportunity to engage with the US’s top technology businesses and to discuss the emerging market opportunities that the race to address climate change presents. It is supported by Orrick, BP Alternative Energy and Cleantech Group.

“We’re delighted to have been selected to take part in this important mission“, says Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon. “It comes at a great time for us as our world-leading technology is starting to become better known and our discussions with potential commercial partners develop.”

Iain Gray, Chief Executive of the Technology Strategy Board said: “The real story here is about these very successful UK business people who have embarked on innovative ventures in a new but growing sector. They are pioneers and we are working with them because we want to see them find their place in what looks set to become a successful international market.”

Bronwyn Kunhardt of Polecat who is organising the mission, added that previous missions run for UK web startups had proved successful, with three of the 20 companies that travelled to the US last year securing funding and many of the others continuing to prosper.

Working with Nexeon are advanced battery manufacturer Axeon, the University of St Andrews, a centre of excellence for battery materials chemistry and Ricardo, a leading provider of technology and engineering solutions to the automotive and transport industries. The consortium partners will match the TSB funding in the £2 million project.

Over the next two years, applied research conducted at St Andrews on potential new cathode materials will be combined with appropriate chemical engineering by Nexeon to scale-up material synthesis and optimize electrode fabrication, resulting in prototype Li-ion cells based on its proprietary silicon anode technology. The cells produced will be used by Axeon to construct a usable, PHEV-type battery, with cells engineered into a housing with electrical interconnects and harnessing. Ricardo will perform extensive testing of the battery module integrated into a demonstrator vehicle platform.

The project will therefore accelerate knowledge transfer from university-based fundamental research to optimized synthesis and scale up for cell production for use in a demonstrator PHEV battery pack.

Nexeon presented its latest findings at a conference in Japan at the beginning of this month, and has received a good deal of interest from commentators and potential partners alike. The Company was founded as a spin-out from Imperial Innovations, and the technology is based on work done by Professor Mino Green, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London. Nexeon has established research and development facilities and a pilot plant at the Science Centre at Culham, Oxfordshire,

Dr Scott Brown, CEO of Nexeon commented:
“This TSB supported project provides an ideal opportunity, in collaboration with our consortium members, to demonstrate Nexeon’s unique silicon battery anode technology in an automotive application and to accelerate progress toward new and improved PHEV batteries.”

John Laughlin, the TSB’s programme manager for low carbon vehicles, added:
“Our support for this project is part of our ongoing major investment programme aimed at putting the UK at the forefront of low carbon vehicle technology. The research we are funding will strengthen the UK’s automotive industry, while speeding up the reduction of carbon emissions and helping to meet UK and EU climate change targets. We are delighted to support this exciting project, which brings together some of the UK’s world-class expertise in vehicle battery development, and look forward to following its progress.”

Lawrence Berns, CEO of Axeon noted, “As a leading provider of innovative EV battery technology Axeon is delighted to be leading this consortium. This project will give us access to exciting new chemistries that will enable us to deliver improved PHEV battery solutions for our customers.“

Prior to joining Nexeon, he worked for specialty chemicals company Degussa AG, and was among others responsible for a strategic alliance with LG Chem in Korea to research functional materials for electronics and IT applications. He also founded Degussa’s ‘Science to Business’ centres for Biotechnology, Nanotechnology and Energy Efficiency with €50m of investment each for research into new applications.

Before joining Degussa AG, Dr. Oberholz spent many years working for Hüls where he was Head of the Silanes/Silicones Business Unit and a member of the Board of Management.

Dr. Oberholz sits on the Supervisory Boards of the University of Aachen, is the President of the Scientific Society DECHEMA and has a seat in the Supervisory of the Biotech company DIREVO.

“We are delighted to have attracted someone of Alfred’s calibre to join our Board“, says Dr. Scott Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Nexeon. “His experience will directly benefit us as we move from technology demonstration to commercial discussions with global battery manufacturers and material supply partners.”

Nexeon’s technology is based on the use of silicon anodes in lithium-ion batteries instead of the carbon-based anodes used today. This allows greater charge to be stored in the battery, and longer lifetime between charges. The Nexeon approach will allow batteries with significantly higher energy density to be developed – leading to the much sought after benefits of longer operating times and brighter screens for laptops and smart phones, and more powerful and higher performance cordless tools. Benefits extend to automotive manufacturers who see the potential for higher battery capacity and power to weight ratio.

Nexeon plans to license its technology and is already in discussion with a number of major corporations in the global battery industry. Nexeon has begun sampling materials to these companies for evaluation.

Nexeon spun out from Imperial Innovations in 2005 and has successfully completed several rounds of funding, including the raising of £10 million earlier this year. It has established research and development facilities and a pilot plant at Culham, Oxfordshire.

Nexeon – a company formed following a breakthrough discovery made at Imperial College London – has revealed its plans to commercialise lithium-ion battery technology, a development which will lead to batteries with significantly higher energy density and longer lifetime between charges. Longer operating times and brighter screens for laptops and smart phones, and cordless tools with more power on tap are just some of the benefits expected.

The Nexeon technology is based on the use of silicon anodes instead of the carbon-based anodes used today, and this allows greater charge to be stored within the battery. Silicon provides far higher performance as an anode material, offering charge densities around ten times that of carbon.

Lithium-ion batteries have come to dominate the rechargeable batteries market as a result of their higher performance for a given cell size and weight, their low self-discharge rate and the absence of a ‘memory effect’. Silicon has been known to offer potential as a superior anode material, but until now, silicon has suffered from physical instability when repeatedly charged and discharged. Nexeon’s approach solves this problem by changing the physical form (‘morphology’) of the silicon, allowing it to realise its full potential as a battery anode.

Nexeon may be a new name to many people, but in fact has operated for the last four years in ’stealth mode’ as it developed the technology and built its patent portfolio.

Nexeon was founded as a spin-out from Imperial Innovations, and the technology is based on work done by Professor Mino Green, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Imperial College, London.

Nexeon has successfully completed several rounds of funding, including the raising of £10 million earlier this year, a round which saw Imperial Innovations make one of its largest investments to date.

Nexeon has established research and development facilities and a pilot plant at the Science Centre at Culham, Oxfordshire, capable of producing kilograms of material a day for evaluation. Here, it can simulate accurately the performance of its materials in battery manufacturing processes that closely mirror those in commercial production plants. As a result, Nexeon has a good understanding of the costs of production and can support battery manufacturers in rapidly adopting the technology through a ‘drop in’ approach.

Many potential applications for Nexeon’s technology exist, from consumer electronic products to medical devices and power tools. From an environmental viewpoint, increased use of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries is preferred over their single-use equivalents. One of the highest profile applications has to be electric vehicles, where a high capacity and power to weight ratio is critical. Batteries made using Nexeon’s silicon anode material would deliver these benefits and allow dramatic increases in vehicle range between charges.

Nexeon is already in discussion with a number of major corporations in the global battery industry, and its materials are currently under evaluation. Nexeon’s plans are to license the technology and possibly to supply the specialised materials. Since silicon is a higher efficiency material than carbon in this context, smaller amounts are required and costs could be lowered.

“Nexeon is a pioneering company whose innovative technology could transform the global battery industry with significant benefits for the environment“, said Russ Cummings, Chief Investment Officer at Imperial Innovations. “It is exactly the kind of company Imperial Innovations is delighted to support, with its experienced management team and strong financial backing that will help it achieve significant commercial success.”

Dr Scott Brown, who was appointed CEO of Nexeon earlier this year, is also bullish: “We are delighted to be able to reveal the progress that Nexeon has made over the last few years. The commercial discussions already underway with key players in the industry position us well for the future“.

The appointment comes less than one month after the £10m investment round, which is making significant technical progress in proving the viability of its silicon anode technology.

Dr Scott Brown is the latest addition to the Nexeon team. Having held senior management roles at Cambridge Display Technology (”CDT”), Sumation (a 50:50 Joint Venture company between CDT and Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd) and Dow Corning, Scott brings a strong track record of intellectual property management and licensing. Scott has worked in the US and more recently Japan, where most of the world’s leading electronics companies are based. He was a key member of the executive management team during CDT’s NASDAQ IPO in December 2004 and their eventual acquisition by Sumitomo Chemical in September of 2007.