The MIT Enterprise Forum Central Coast will discuss recent breakthroughs in energy storage on June 20 at the Cabrillo Pavilion Arts Center, 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd. in Santa Barbara.
UCSB biochemistry and engineering professor Daniel Morse will be the keynote speaker for the event, titled “Weakest Link in Renewable Energy: Clean Energy Storage.”
Morse and a UCSB team founded the Goleta-based startup LifeCel Technology, which developed a cheap, high-power and safe lithium-ion battery.
The battery has 10 times more power and 40 percent higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries. It creates nanocrystals of tin inside graphite or carbon nanotube structures to increase power and improves safety through its fire-proof barium strontium titanate nanocrystalline ceramic.
The technology can extend the battery life in notebooks, smartphones and other portable electronics as well as semiconductors and photovoltaic energy. The battery can be charged or discharged in less than two minutes and increase capacity by more than 50 percent compared with graphite models, according to the website.
David Auston, executive director of the UCSB Institute for Energy Efficiency and Center for Energy Efficient Materials, and Daniel Weiss, co-founder of leading clean-tech venture firm Angeleno Group, will make up the panel. Leslie Edwards, UCSB director of corporate business development, will moderate the panel.
An hour of networking and a buffet dinner will begin at 5 p.m. June 20. The speaker program will begin at 6 p.m., capped off with a question-and-answer period.
Tickets cost $30 in advance, $15 for students and $40 at the door. Parking costs $3. Click here for more information.
— Noozhawk staff writer Alex Kacik can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkBiz, @noozhawk and @NoozhawkNews. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
