Cerebral Energy has been selected by AFWERX for a Phase II STTR follow-on contract in the amount of $1.6 million to support further development of a new lithium-free secondary battery using recycled aluminum and graphene derived from recycled US waste streams.

The technology was developed by Dr. Lynden Archer—Dean of the School of Engineering at Cornell University—and licensed by Cerebral. The novel aluminum battery design is more than 3X more efficient than lithium, much safer (no fire risk), 10X faster charging and has no supply chain challenges since the materials are derived from US waste streams.

Known as “AGILE,” the batteries will first support AFSOC medical modernization teams to address their pressing tactical power issues.

The Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through faster proposal to award timelines, changing the pool of potential applicants by expanding opportunities to small business and eliminating bureaucratic overhead by continually implementing process improvement changes in contract execution.