About Us
Our Company
Bettergy was founded in 2008 to conceive, develop and commercialize innovative energy and environmental technologies. Bettergy was originally formed as an energy storage technology company and in pursuit of better battery performance, Bettergy sought advances in membrane technology. This led to a greater understanding of nanopore structures and the development of novel membrane technologies.
Our Team
Bettergy has assembled a strong technical team, including eight Ph.D.’s as well as additional technical and administrative staff and several consultants. The team has a broad range of experience including in material synthesis, characterization, inorganic and polymer membrane fabrication, battery and fuel cell development and manufacturing.
Dr. Lin-Feng Li, President & CTO
Dr. Lin-Feng Li, Founder, President and CTO, has two decades of technology and management experience in a wide range of energy and environmental technology fields. Dr. Li has B.S. degrees in both Chemistry and Applied Physics from Tsinghua University and in 1998 received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Case Western Reserve University, where he worked under the supervision of Prof. Daniel A. Scherson focusing on the development of lithium batteries with polymer electrolytes. During his studies, Dr. Li developed a novel process for lithium deposition alloying and intercalation. Dr. Li is an active inventor in the fields of batteries, including lithium rechargeable and other rechargeable and primary batteries, alkaline fuel cells, electrochemical oxygen separation and other membrane separation technologies, electrocatalysis, ion conductive membrane technologies and nano-engineered materials. He has published over 25 technical papers in the professional journals and has 12 issued US patents. In his work with zinc batteries Dr. Li has developed numerous innovations to address the issues of zinc dendrite growth, leading to successful commercialization of rechargeable Ag-Zn and Ni-Zn batteries. He was previously VP and CTO of eVionyx, Inc. where he was a leader of the team that developed an electric vehicle powered by a hybrid zinc air fuel cell and Ni-Zn batteries that in 2000 held the Guinness World Record for electric vehicle range. He then served as the Vice President of Product Development at Zinc Matrix Power (now ZPower) and was instrumental in developing the rechargeable Ag-Zn battery. Dr. Li has also previously launched a joint venture in China in which he scaled-up a battery manufacturing facility from scratch, starting with an empty building and no employees, and bringing the venture through production, testing, marketing, sales and product distribution. Dr. Li is actively involved in technology development and the commercialization of Bettergy’s technologies, and Bettergy has spun-out a company to bring Bettergy’s rechargeable lithium metal battery technology, which includes a novel separator and advanced polymer electrolyte, to market.
Guy A. Longobardo, Esq., COO
Guy A. Longobardo, COO and General Counsel, joined Bettergy in 2013 and is responsible for managing corporate development activities and commercialization efforts. Mr. Longobardo has a BA in Economics from Williams College and a JD from Columbia University School of Law. Prior to joining Bettergy, Mr. Longobardo held positions with HSBC Securities where he was Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance, Amnex where he served as the CEO and General Counsel, and ETS Payphones, Inc. where he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He has also served as a public official and on a number of corporate, community and non-profit organization boards. A proven leader and problem-solver, Mr. Longobardo helps Bettergy to achieve corporate goals while mitigating both business and legal risk. His strengths include developing relationships with both clients and suppliers. Mr. Longobardo has business and legal experience in a broad range of industries and with a broad range of transactions.
Dr. Zhong Tang, Director of Advanced Membrane Technology
Dr. Zhong Tang, Director of Advanced Membrane Technology, joined Bettergy in 2009 and is responsible for Bettergy’s separation membrane technologies. Dr. Tang specializes in developing membrane technologies for hydrogen separation, ammonia cracking membrane reactors, carbon capture, olefin separation and desalination. He is the PI of several projects funded by NSF, DOE, ARPA-E, and NYSERDA. Dr. Tang received his MS degree in Chemical Engineering from Nanjing University of Technology in 1992 and his PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Cincinnati in 2009. Prior to his Ph.D. program, Dr. Tang was a chemical engineer and group leader for nearly ten years at a major oil company, Sinopec, in China, where he gained tremendous industrial experience in the oil and gas industry. Dr. Tang’s research expertise lies in membrane process (design, synthesis, characterization and evaluation), membrane reactor design and implementation and catalysis. Dr. Tang has over 20 peer reviewed publications, a book chapter on TS-1 zeolite catalyst, four issued patents and numerous conference publications and presentations. He also serves as technical reviewer for several major journals relevant to membrane separation.
Our Sponsors
Since its inception, Bettergy has received grants, contracts and support relating to its technologies from ARPA-E, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, New York-BEST, NYSERDA, Office of Naval Research, the United States Army and the United States Navy.
Academic Partners
Bettergy has close collaborative relationships with University of Cincinnati, The State University of New York at Buffalo, Rutgers University and Virginia Tech and engineering talent and other resources from these universities is available for technological development.
