Building a Better More Sustainable Battery with Group 14 Technologies Co-Founder and CTO, Rick Costantino

Smartphones are incredible pieces of technology. They allow users the ability to track stars, text people around the world, purchase items at the ease of a click, map their next destination, and so much more. Their individual capabilities are truly remarkable.

“It's crazy. And all of that is powered by the battery and all of that and really what limits it, the engineer's imagination, you know, they're, they, they know how much, how much they can get out of that in terms of the energy. And so imagine now, if you could get 50% more energy from your phone and do 50% more, more tasks that we hadn't even thought of yet."

That’s Rick Costantino, and while what he is saying may sound too good to be true, it’s not. On this episode of IT Visionaries, Rick dives into how Group 14 is reversing that trend by working to replace the traditional graphite anode with a silicon casing material. Plus, Rick touches on why silicon is the future of the battery industry, the impact it will have on devices that use  lithium-ion batteries, and how Group 14 is thriving despite some early stage struggles.

Main Takeaways

• A New Home: For the last two decades, there has been very little innovation as it pertains to lithium-ion battery casings.  Group 14 bucked that trend and by using a hybrid material of carbon and silicon, the company has found a way to eliminate the use of graphite, allowing batteries to weigh less, but produce more energy
• Can I get A Charge: It’s important to remember that while silicon allows for longer-lasting lithium-ion batteries, the real benefit is in unlocking the possibilities promised by that more powerful and energy-efficient battery.
• Built to Last: Another advantage of using a silicon-based battery is its sustainability benefits. The ability to consistently reuse silicon-based batteries means that there is less need to constantly dig into natural resources to constantly produce new batteries.

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This episode was produced by the team at Mission.org and brought to you by Brightspot.