Materials technology group Ilika has taken a step towards launching commercial sales of new battery technology for wireless sensor networks (WSN) next year.

Ilika said it had achieved a 25-fold increase in the size of solid state batteries that it is developing for use in WSNs.

Now it plans to try to increase the storage capacity of the batteries and expects to make prototypes available for assessment by WSN manufacturers in 2015.

Since January, Ilika has inked 10 agreements to pave the way for talks with manufacturers in Europe, Japan and the US.

Chief Executive Graeme Purdy said: "Progress we have made in terms of both technology and understanding of our unique processes since January is substantial and the interest from our potential commercialisation partners is increasing significantly."

Shares in Ilika jumped 7p or 11.2% to 69.5p by 08:41 in London.

PW

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