Today’s update to Apollon partnership is pretty big news IMO:
  • HPQ’s partnership has grown with Apollon, in that it is not only a research collaboration between them for production of porous silicon, but now includes Hydrogen and is moving towards the commercial side quicker than anticipated with the distribution & sales agreement of Apollon’s Gennao H2 system & powders in North America. There is now an excellent chance HPQ is generating revenue by this year, much earlier than previously expected (the start of Gen2 NSiR or mid 2021).
  • HPQ and Apollon will explore the technical & commercial potential of using silicon nanopowders made using PUREVAP NSiR & porous silicon nanopowders made from PUREVAP QRR silicon (2N-4N) on the Gennao H2 system.
  • HPQ will be sending samples to Apollon of silicon nanopowders to test on their H2 system in December, along with samples to many battery manufacturers & research institutions.
  • HPQ and Apollon are also sending porous silicon nanopowder samples to end users (battery manufacturers & research institutions) in December.
  • The newest extension of the agreement lasts until Dec 31, 2020, however, I see these agreements continuing after this and also adapting and growing in scope as the PUREVAP family continues to evolve and move closer to commercial readiness (December is a big inflection point for HPQ). The next one should also coincide with a long-term commercial agreement regarding Apollon’s products that use nano silicon such as the Gennao H2.
  • Apollon’s research with HPQ to produce porous silicon (wafers & nanopowders) hasn’t been focused on much here, but porous silicon is a HUGE field of study; the applications of porous silicon number far more than just Hydrogen production & battery anodes. Bernard hinted towards a few of these applications in Agoracom interviews.
 
Here are some of the Applications of Porous silicon:
 
Those that Bernard has mentioned:
  • Anode material for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries
  • Hydrogen generation and storage
  • Drug delivery
  • Oil spill cleanup
The many other applications being studied for porous silicon:
  • Optoelectronics & Photoelectronics
  • Acoustics
  • Cosmetics
  • Electronics
  • Solar cells
  • Micro-fuel cells
  • Gene therapy (including Cancer treatment)
  • Chemical and biological sensors (detection of proteins, DNA, pH, drug discovery, single viruses, glucose, arrays for parallel molecule detection & gas sensors)
  • Bioimaging
  • Bioactive surfaces
  • Used as host and template material for fabricating composites & hybrid materials with other metals, semiconductors, organic substances
  • Porous-Silicon based microreactors
  • Porous-Silicon based Supercapacitors
  • Thermoelectric devices
  • Explosive devices
 
If you want to read more about these applications and about porous silicon in general, look into the books: “Porous Silicon: From Formation to Application, Volumes 1-3 by G. Korotcenkov) or (Handbook of Porous Silicon,. 2nd edition, Springer International, by Leigh Canham). Most of the applications listed above are taken from those references.