Anteo shares go loop-de-loop after positive advice on battery patent

Investors piled back into Anteo Diagnostics today after the med tech maker announced it would seek a patent in the battery field.

A review of Anteo’s “nano-coating technology” — which is designed to help increase the charge held by lithium-ion batteries — could be “a very important solution” for developers, consulting firm Polaris Battery Labs found.

That news alone sent Anteo’s shares up 110 per cent to 2.1c in Wednesday morning trade. Shares settled back to 1.7c by 12.30 pm AEDT.

However, the shares are up today off a low base.

On Tuesday Anteo hit a 12-month low of 1c compared to its 12-month high of 6c last year

Anteo (ADO) has had a shocker of a year after losing a chairman and two CEOs, and being forced to sell what should have been a transformational medical sector acquisition because it didn’t have enough money to buy it.

The company makes nano-coatings and the news which sent its share nuts centers around the promise of a new market.

US based battery consulting company Polaris Battery Labs said its nano-coating technology “has potential value” for lithium-ion batteries.

Polaris reviews previous proof of concept research around using the coating to stabilise silicon anodes (the positive terminal) within a battery cell to reduce degradation over time.

“Polaris is not aware of any products on the market today, or under development, that act as a stabilizer for silicon anodes. The closest known technologies that we are aware of are traditional binders used in higher ratios than normal, foil adhesion promoters i.e. copper foil pre-coated with carbon nanotubes, or mechanical methods to enclose or contain the silicon,” it said.

The problem this could solve is with cell cycling, or when a battery is charged and discharged once.

The more cycles a battery goes through the more it degrades.

Battery technology company Cadex found that car batteries could take a full discharge – from full to flat – 300 times before the cell’s energy capacity dropped below 70 per cent.

A 40 per cent discharge would allow for 1500 cycles before it dropped below that capacity level.

What the Polaris review means for Anteo is that it will pursue a patent over its technology specifically for batteries and continue spending on research.

More broadly it’s another IP option for a company that has, since early 2016, struggled for money and positive news.