mPhase reports rapid advancement with leading MEMS foundry partner

LITTLE FALLS, USA: mPhase Technologies Inc. reported that its work with a world leading MEMS foundry has resulted in the rapid advancement of its Smart NanoBattery technology.

Last week, mPhase announced a laboratory discovery of a polymer coating that improves the ability to control activation of the Smart NanoBattery. mPhase, along with its MEMS foundry partner, have since determined that the laboratory results appear to be able to be replicated in a foundry manufacturing environment.

mPhase previously found that the coating would prevent short circuiting and provide electrical isolation on conductive surfaces of the battery's porous membrane while providing better activation control.

The mPhase team is now working with its MEMS foundry partner to transfer the technical testing results using additional dielectric coating materials and processing methods that are available in a foundry production environment.

The foundry production environment should allow for more consistent and uniform development of the membrane structure which the coating is applied to. The coated membrane physically separates the liquid electrolyte and solid electrodes enabling a potentially infinite shelf life for the Smart NanoBattery.

The activation of each battery cell can be better controlled with the addition of this coating, which creates precise and controlled battery activation capabilities.

"We have made rapid progress during the past few weeks and are encouraged by our technical results and continue to work closely with our MEMS foundry in advancing this unique battery technology," said mPhase CEO Ron Durando.

"These advancements mark another important milestone in our progress and create the potential for developing batteries with an unsurpassed shelf life that can be electronically controlled."

The Smart NanoBattery is being developed as part of the U.S. Army STTR Program. mPhase was awarded $750,000 for a two year Phase II development contract by the U.S. Army in September 2008 to develop this unique new battery technology for military purposes.