Nexeon – the Oxfordshire company developing silicon materials for Li-ion batteries – is sampling silicon-enhanced batteries to potential customers for evaluation.

The move marks the halfway stage in its £10million SUNRISE (Synthomer, UCL & Nexeon’s Rapid Improvement in the Storage of Energy) project.

SUNRISE is on target to develop materials based on silicon as a replacement for carbon in the cell anode, and optimising cell designs for specific applications.

Silicon-enhanced batteries with longer life and higher energy density will be of benefit in consumer electronics products and static energy storage applications.

A prototype reactor has been built and is operational, and progress has been made to ramp up production capability.

The work is supported by £7 million in Innovate UK funding, and the other partners in the project are polymer company Synthomer and UCL.