With the world racing to find urgent sustainable solutions to meet its energy needs, the spotlight has turned increasingly to the crucial role of battery technology.
From powering electric vehicles and the next generation of consumer electronics to enabling renewable energy storage, battery technology is at the heart of modern technology and the transition to a cleaner, more energy-efficient future energy grid, reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and accelerating the adoption of renewable energy sources.
The quest for ever smaller, lighter, safer batteries is driving constant innovation across the field – and the need for efficient, longer-lasting, faster-charging reliable batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) has become even more critical.
Driving critical advancements in battery technology with impulse
In response, impulse, the University of Cambridge’s entrepreneurship programme, has helped a raft of pioneering battery innovators commercialise their critical advancements in battery technology, and they are now changing the world.
Sanzhar Taizhan, founder and CEO of TaiSan and Emma Antonio, who aims to spin out of Imperial College London this Summer, are just some of the most recent impulse graduates pushing the boundaries of what the humble battery can do, and bringing the chemistry to the next level.
Commercial growth in the battery industry
They follow in the super-charged footsteps of impulse alumni Jean de La Verpilliere, co-founder and CEO of Echion Technologies and Kieran O’Regan, co-founder and CGO of About:Energy.
Last June, Echion – whose revolutionary XNO® niobium-based anode material enables lithium-ion batteries to fast-charge safely in less than 10 minutes – raised £29m in a Series B investment round and, five months later, landed a further £10m to power commercial growth.
They recently opened a niobium-based anode production facility, capable of producing 2000 t/year of XNO®, equivalent to 1 GWh of Li-ion cells.
Battery technology company About:Energy has raised over £4m to scale its hardware-integrated software solutions, enabling advanced digital twins for the automotive and industrial sectors.
Graduate success stories
Sanzhar Taizhan – who was awarded an impulse fellowship sponsored by automobile parts manufacturer MAGNA International – is similarly progressing with his quasi-solid state sodium technology for battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs). TaiSan has developed a novel polymer electrolyte and anode material that is able to boost the energy density of sodium while keeping costs low.
Sanzhar explained: “Sodium batteries are traditionally very heavy and big in size. We have developed a brand-new electrolyte material, and a first-of-its-kind quasi-solid-state sodium battery, which makes batteries considerably smaller and lighter, with best-in-class energy density, and offers significant cost, sustainability and safety benefits for the BEV industry.”
Last year, TaiSan received a “Best Growth Potential” award from the Department for Transport (DfT), as well as a £1.3 million pre-seed fundraise (EIT InnoEnergy, TSP Ventures, Heartfelt VC and Exergon).
Now, with memorandums in place and prototypes being tested this year, TaiSan’s pioneering battery technology is set to be a game changer for both the automotive and micro-mobility industries, providing reliable battery cells to address ‘range anxiety’ amongst EV users, reducing charging times, and ultimately drive down overall costs.
Meanwhile, Emma Antonio, who only graduated from impulse last year, is focused on using waste materials to make biomass-based ‘hard carbon’ battery materials for sodium-ion batteries.
She said: “Sodium-ion batteries are positioned to play a leading role in a sustainable, equitable and resilient energy future. As they can be manufactured using existing capabilities, they are rapidly gaining traction, especially in the stationary storage sector, to support wind and solar.
“In sodium-ion batteries, we can replace the critical mineral graphite with hard carbon, which can be derived from a variety of sources, including biomass and plastic waste. We have developed a material that stores more charge, charges quickly and lasts longer.
Apply now to revolutionise battery technology
Applications are still open for impulse 2025 and potential candidates can apply here: https://www.maxwell.cam.ac.uk/apply-impulse.
The action-learning initiative – which runs from 29 April to 11 July 2025 – is designed to accelerate high-potential innovations into commercial propositions, guided by top-tier innovators and mentors from the Cambridge innovation cluster.
