A MAJOR investment group has poured $2.5million into an American company to help it develop powerful high-tech batteries.

The Carlton James Group in Royal Wootton Bassett picked US firm The Coretec Group to be the latest business to benefit from its Diversified Alpha Fund.

Money lent to Coretec will help it develop cutting-edge materials which could be used for energy storage, solar power, printable electronics and 3D displays.

Carlton James Group CEO Simon Calton said: “Coretec’s technology has always fascinated our team, especially as the battery application alone could revolutionise the electric car industry without changing any major components.

“By adding liquid silicon to lithium-ion batteries, Coretec has experienced an increase in power life of those batteries up to five times.

"We believe that this will drive down costs along the supply chain and, ultimately, to the consumer.

“With its intellectual property and sprinkling of trade secrets in place, we are confident Coretec will establish itself as a leader in its respective product categories.”

The Coretec Group is focused on providing new and improved silicon-based materials like lithium-ion batteries and semiconductors that meet the needs and specifications of energy storage.

Plus, the group is preparing silicon-based materials for things like quantum dots for drug delivery, LEDs, solar energy, and asset monitoring.

Interest in The Coretec Group’s developments in these projects has increased as manufacturers and continue to seek new and innovative materials that reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

Coretec Group CEO Michael Kraft said: “This funding will accelerate commercialization efforts and the development of intellectual property.

"We are especially pleased to have The Carlton James Group as an investor as they’ve known Coretec for several years and understand our focused application of Coretec’s technology.”

The global market for semiconductor memory is expected to increase by $730 billion by 2024 and the lithium-ion battery category set to exceed $92 billion by that same year.