Carbon-Fluoride Batteries: Biggest Breakthrough Since Jet Propulsion?

William Pentland
Clean Beta
My Profile My Headline Grabs My RSS Feed

Jan. 27 2011 - 9:51 am | 5,764 views | 0 recommendations | 3 comments
By WILLIAM PENTLAND

Image via CrunchBase
In 1980, Rachid Yazami, a professor of chemistry at the French National Center of Scientific Research in Grenoble, France, pioneered the lithium-graphite anode technology used today in commercial lithium-ion batteries, which is why Yazami is often described as the person who “invented” the lithium-ion battery.

Nearly three decades later in 2007, while visiting as a professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Yazami and Robert Grubbs, also a chemistry professor at the Caltech and the recipient of the 2005 Nobel Laureate for Chemistry, were rumored to have made a major breakthrough in carbon-fluoride technology that would revolutionize the field of energy storage. This breakthrough was considered so significant that it would potentially rival the development of “jet propulsion” as the most important discovery made at CalTech.

In 2008, Yazami and Grubbs raised funds to commercialize the carbon-fluoride battery technology from venture capital firms, including CMEA Capital and Harris & Harris. They founded CFX Battery, a start-up company based in Azsua, Calif. Only a few months after being founded, Frost & Sullivan gave CFX Battery the “North American Emerging Company of the Year” award for 2008.

“The difference between CFX Battery and other start-up battery companies/alternative energy storage developers is that CFX advanced an established battery chemistry into a primary and rechargeable power system that offers cost, performance, and safety benefits in a single solution,” said Sara Bradford, an analyst with Frost & Sullivan, in a pre-release announcing the award. “CFX Battery is able to provide a truly disruptive battery chemistry with the ability to be highly flexible in both the manufacturing process as well as user requirements.”

Three years later, CFX Battery has been reorganized into Contour Energy Systems and the world is still waiting for the promised “revolution” in the field of energy storage. Other start-up companies like Texas-based EEStor have also claimed to crack the energy-storage code and failed – at least to date – to corroborate those claims by pushing compelling products and applications into the marketplace. Is CFX (now, Contour Energy Systems) more of the same? It would be strange if this were the case. Let’s hope it isn’t.