Fuelium, CSIC spin-off, awarded at Expoquimia 2023
The company co-founded by Neus Sabaté, an IMB-CNM researcher, receives the "Best in Class" award in the "Tech Transfer" category for its development of paper-based ecological batteries. The "Best in Class" awards, with four categories, recognize projects with a high disruptive profile and business transformation. Fuelium batteries do not generate toxic waste and can power a wide variety of single-use devices.
Fuelium, a spin-off of the CSIC's Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC), has received one of the "Best in Class" awards at the Expoquimia Exhibition. The jury has recognized the work of this spin-off as an example of technology transfer.
The company was founded in 2015 by Neus Sabaté, ICREA professor at the IMB-CNM, and Juan Pablo Esquivel, also a researcher at the IMB-CNM at the time. This spin-off, based at the Parc de Recerca de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), develops, produces and comercializes ecological paper batteries for single-use devices.
These are batteries that can be implemented in rapid diagnostic tests, environmental monitoring sensors or packaging. They offer an affordable alternative to power small devices, are biodegradable, do not need to be recycled and do not generate waste. Unlike conventional batteries, these paper-based ones only generate the amount of energy necessary for each application and do not contain heavy or harmful to health metals. They are mainly made of paper, carbon and biodegradable metals.
These batteries have been well received by sectors such as cosmetics and rapid diagnostics. As Sabaté explains, "currently our paper-batteries are being applied to face masks to generate microcurrents that facilitate the penetration of the active ingredients."
“The market we are targeting is diagnostics, where we are developing powerful solutions that make cell lysis or amplification of viral RNA samples possible in portable tests in a sustainable manner. In addition, we are studying the possibility of replacing the button batteries of the insulin injection pumps,” concludes the ICREA professor.
The “Best in Class” awards, presented in the the last edition of the international chemistry meeting Expoquimia, recognize projects with a highly disruptive profile and capable of achieving a sustainable business transformation in different sectors thanks to chemistry.
In addition to Fuelium, H2Site, Inditex and Repsol's Stock Control initiative were also awarded in the “Tech Transfer” category.
Also within the framework of the meeting, representatives of these four companies have explained the solutions applied and the concrete results of their innovations in a conference within the Industry Showcase.