- Boulder Ionics
founded
NOV ’10 - NSF Phase I
SBIR grant
FEB ’11 - First ionic liquid production
MAR ’11 - 8 metric T/yr production demo
JUN ’11 - First samples to ultracap customers
AUG ’11 - First IL’s for
lithium-ion batteries
NOV ’11 - Series A
funding
APR ’12 - NSF Phase 2
grant
MAY ’12
Boulder Ionics’ Technology
Boulder Ionics has developed new processes and technology for producing high purity ionic liquids. These processes are inherently scalable, and will support the introduction of ionic liquids into products from small quantities for evaluation and pilot runs, through large volume manufacturing.
The company has developed a proprietary, high throughput synthesis platform. This unique process will reduce the high cost of ionic liquids with the purity required for electrolyte applications which in turn will enable their widespread use in energy storage applications. Boulder Ionics’ electrolytes will enable cost-effective production of advanced battery chemistries with up to ten times the energy density of lithium-ion batteries.
Applications
Ionic liquids have received significant interest recently as advanced electrolytes. The key properties of interest include a wide working temperature range (useful for hot environments), wide electrochemical stability window (higher energy density) and non-flammability.
Ultracapacitors benefit strongly from the wide electrochemical stability window—higher voltage operation yields higher energy density, with the potential for energy densities approaching or exceeding that of lead-acid batteries.
Advances in lithium-ion batteries are pushing to higher voltage operation. Ionic liquid electrolytes complement the work on advanced electrodes, to form a complete solution for higher voltage operation, and hence higher energy batteries.