Flint Paper Battery

Flint

Flint Paper Battery

Paper batteries: a safer, lower-carbon replacement for toxic lithium cells, now in production and ready to scale.

Singapore

Singapore

For-profit, including B-Corp or similar models

The global battery market is scaling rapidly to power electrification, but today's dominant chemistries (lithium-ion, lead-acid, NiMH) carry upstream costs that are structurally incompatible with a zero-carbon transition. The damage occurs at three stages. Extraction: mining lithium, cobalt, and nickel is energy-intensive, geopolitically concentrated, and linked to documented human rights abuses. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, an estimated 150,000-200,000 people mine cobalt by hand, including roughly 40,000 children (UNICEF). Manufacturing: producing a lithium-ion battery emits roughly 40-100 kg CO₂e per kWh of capacity (far more where grids run on coal) with high-temperature, PFAS- and solvent-heavy processing, embedding carbon before a battery reaches a device. End-of-life: over 15 billion single-use batteries are landfilled each year, leaching hazardous metals into soil and water and concentrating health burdens in low-income communities near disposal sites. The footprint compounds as IoT devices and logistics expand. And the communities most harmed, like mining regions across the Global South and informal waste workers, are rarely the ones benefiting from the devices these batteries power. Flint addresses the root cause: the chemistry itself. By removing toxic, mining-intensive inputs at the material level, we eliminate the contradiction at the heart of clean energy.

Flint is pioneering a rechargeable paper battery built on a cellulose-based architecture. It contains no lithium, cobalt, nickel, lead, mercury, PFAS, solvents, or flammable electrolytes. A hydrogel-infused cellulose matrix serves as the electrolyte, separator, and structural support all at once, paired with manganese-based electrodes, together forming an inherently safe, low-carbon storage cell with 226 Wh/kg energy density and a 1,000-cycle life. The cells are manufactured with ambient, water-based, roll-to-roll processing, which is the same class of process used to make paper. This eliminates the dry rooms, high-temperature calcination, and hazardous solvent-recovery systems conventional batteries require, sharply reducing both embodied carbon and production cost. Today, Flint produces ultra-thin pouch cells and cylindrical formats (AA/AAA equivalents) for consumer-electronics brands, with active programs alongside companies including Logitech and LEGO. The batteries are fire-safe, leak-proof, and designed for compostable or organic-waste end-of-life pathways. At pilot scale, each cell carries roughly 29g CO₂e versus 38-150g for conventional equivalents, resulting in a 25-75% lifecycle carbon reduction depending on application. The technology is in pilot production in Singapore, with commercial scale-up underway through a manufacturing partnership with Foxconn in Hungary.

Flint's solution serves three interconnected groups. First, device manufacturers and enterprise customers: consumer electronics and wearables brands, IoT and toy companies, logistics providers, and medical device makers. These industries need a battery that meets performance requirements while reducing supply chain carbon, eliminating hazardous materials, and supporting their sustainability commitments. These are Flint's primary customers today, with active co-development programs running with LEGO, Mattel, Logitech, Belkin, Philips, Avery Dennison, and more. Second, and increasingly, everyday consumers. Flint is in active retail distribution discussions in the United States and the Nordics, two markets where sustainability is a meaningful purchase driver. For these consumers, Flint offers a direct, accessible alternative to conventional batteries: same performance, same cost, no toxic materials, lower carbon footprint, and a safer product to handle and dispose of. Third, communities that bear the disproportionate burden of conventional battery supply chains: mining regions in the DRC and Latin America, urban waste workers, and low-income populations near battery landfill and incineration sites. Flint's cellulose-based supply chain, sourced partly from agricultural waste in Southeast Asia and South Asia, redirects economic value toward these communities rather than extracting from them.