mPhase Technologies Wins a Renewal Contract for Phase II STTR Grant Program

mPhase Technologies, which specializes in nanotechnology, announced that its Phase II small business technology transfer program grant was renewed by the U.S. Army.

 

The two-year grant was first awarded in September 2008 for an amount of $750,000. With this renewal, mPhase will continue to develop Smart NanoBattery under this grant program through September 2010, officials said.

 

mPhase earned the STTR grant through the Small Business Innovation Research program, a U.S. government program that focuses on providing funds for small businesses with the potential to commercialize research and development efforts.

 

The NanoBattery project aims to develop a small footprint, reserve style multi-cell, 3 V lithium chemistry micro-arrayed battery with a minimum of a 20-year shelf life and uninterruptible power output during this period.

 

Officials said the renewal of the Phase II grant represents the significant accomplishments that have been made over the last 12 months in building a functional lithium Smart NanoBattery prototype for a computer memory application.

 

“I am extremely pleased that the U.S. Army has recognized the incredible strides we have made over the last 12 months,” said mPhase CEO Ron Durando, in a statement. “The potential for our unique technology is clear and commercialization of the Smart NanoBattery is within our grasp.”

 

Upon a successful completion of the Phase II program, mPhase plans to enter production and commercialize its battery technology.

 

STTR grants are available to a small percentage of small businesses that work in conjunction with university development partners. mPhase Technologies (News - Alert) has been working with the Energy Storage Research Group (ESRG) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, during mPhase's Phase I grant project in 2007.

 

mPhase and Rutgers ESRG will continue to work together until the Phase II project is completed, officials said.

 

Last September mPhase Technologies had announced it had successfully produced reserve lithium battery prototypes for emergency flashlight applications, TMCnet reported.

 

The Smart NanoBattery, mPhase’s first nanotechnology-enabled product, was a compact reserve lithium battery with a manually activated breakable separator capable of powering a high-intensity emergency flashlight for more than two hours continuously at full brightness.