BATTERY RECYCLING: THE OTHER BIG INDUSTRY ON EUROPEAN HORIZON

The growth of recycling plants in Europe is a necessary environmental response to the increasing demand for batteries for electric vehicles and the gigafactory industry that will develop in the coming years.

*** Contributed by: M. Guitierrez of CICenergiGUNE

The entire world is currently immersed in an energy transition that involves, among other things, a complete electrification of the mobility sector and the promotion of renewable energies. As a result, the demand for batteries has grown steadily by 30% annually in recent years and the outlook for the coming years is exponential.

The main driver of this growth is the electric vehicle, which is expected to represent more than 88% of the demand compared to other types of applications. Moreover, it is estimated that two out of three vehicles will be electric by 2040. Hence, Europe, which seeks to be a benchmark in this new scenario, is taking positions through the creation of more and more gigafactories.

However, this increase in the manufacture and use of batteries for electric cars requires the development of a new and increasingly necessary sector: the recycling of these batteries. Above all, taking into account that the energy transition to be faced in the coming years is linked to the circular economy which is essential for the desired change towards sustainability.

According to a Greenpeace study, almost 13 million tons of batteries from electric vehicles will reach the end of their life between 2021 and 2030. This represents a huge environmental impact due to the amount of critical materials (lithium, cobalt, nickel…) that will have to be disposed of. And even more so, taking into account that the manufacture of new batteries will require the extraction of around 10 million tons of new materials.

The current situation in Europe in terms of material recycling is still far from what is desirable, given that today only 22% of cobalt, 16% of nickel, 12% of aluminum and 8% of manganese are recycled.

That is why, as we have seen in previous blog articles, great efforts are being made to study how these materials can be reused and/or recycled, in order to promote a circular economy.

Source: ReCell Center

Europe seeks to regulate this macro-industry through a new regulatory framework

One of the major efforts made in recent months has been focused, in a forward-looking approach, on the development of regulations to control the end of the life of these batteries.

Europe has already taken action on the matter through a proposal to change the current regulatory framework, not only to develop the “circularity” of the market, but also to reduce dependence on third territories as far as the supply of raw materials is concerned.

It is a proposal that includes thirteen major blocks of measures covering the entire value chain of the industry with special emphasis on the efficiency levels of recycling and recovery of materials. The objective is to contribute to the protection, preservation and improvement of the quality of the environment by minimizing the negative impact of batteries and capacitors and their waste.

To achieve these goals, the European Directive prohibits the placing of batteries containing certain hazardous substances on the market and defines measures to establish systems aimed at achieving a high level of collection and recycling. It also aims to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of batteries, such as producers, distributors and end users and, in particular, operators directly participating in the treatment and recycling of waste batteries and capacitors.

The U.S. regulation, on the other hand, complains about the absence of a standardized procedure for the design, materials and chemistries of the batteries that are manufactured. Their proposal includes the introduction of a standardized procedure for battery recycling to help manufacturers understand which materials and designs are most easily recyclable. This is known as the “Designed for Recycling” concept.

In this regard, Spain has the Royal Decree 20/2017, of January 20, which obliges manufacturers to inform consumers about the criteria that will be adopted to ensure that the vehicle they are purchasing will be treated responsibly at the end of its useful life.

Leading international players join the recycling wave

The battery recycling sector requires a transformation and there are many European players that are betting on it to boost the circular economy and create a competitive advantage associated with the knowledge of this growing industry.

One of them is ERMA (European Raw Materials Alliance); an alliance that includes companies, associations, universities and research centers –among them CIC energiGUNE– focused on the recycling industry, and whose activities include, among others, supporting the capacity of the European raw materials industry to extract, design, manufacture and recycle materials.

Among the agents belonging to ERMA, we find the RECHARGEassociation, which mainly brings together large companies and some associations related to the materials used in batteries, with the intention of promoting and defending the interests of the entire value chain.

Another player, this time directly linked to battery recycling, is Reneos. This is the first European platform for the collection and recycling of electric vehicle batteries. This platform focuses its activity on the collection of batteries and waste in compliance with European guidelines, before giving them a second life through reuse or disassembly for recycling.

Finally, it is worth mentioning other alliances or initiatives that defend to a greater or lesser extent the interests of the recycling industry. Some of them are Eucobat, the European association of national battery collection systems; EBRA, a grouping that aims to develop the highest levels of professionalism in the battery recycling industry; and EuRIC, which, thanks to its strong network of European and national recycling associations, acts as a trusted interface between the industry and the European Union for the exchange of best practices in all matters related to recycling.

Europe´s proliferation of recycling plants

Given the need, sustainability and also the profitability of the battery recycling industry, more and more companies are commercializing new processes for the collection, discharge and dismantling of these batteries.

Not surprisingly, according to a study by the consulting firm Yole Development, during the period from 2020 to 2025 a CAGR of 25% is estimated in the global value of the recycled materials industry for lithium-ion batteries. This would mean, in economic terms, a total market value of close to $1.2 billion by 2025, and some even forecast that, by 2040, this market will reach a value of almost $24 billion.

In Europe, this spread of battery recycling projects is spearheaded by the factory that SMS Group wants to set up together with the Australian company Neometals. It is called “Primobius” and promises effective recycling of lithium-ion batteries.

Meanwhile, Solvay and Veolia are continuing to advance their battery recycling partnership, which began in September 2020, and have announced the establishment of a demonstration plant for recycling battery materials.

In Northern Europe, Sweden has announced the project of a new battery recycling plant, with an investment of more than €24 million by Stena Recycling and will be located in the town of Halmstad.

At the same time, in Central Europe, Volkswagen has recently opened a pilot plant in Salzgitter (Germany) and also, the recycling company Elemental Holding has announced an investment of 182 million euros for the treatment of batteries and other metals containing waste in Poland.

If we focus on southern Europe, recently, the companies Endesa and Urbaser have announced that Spain will have its own battery recycling plant in León in 2023. A project that promises the treatment of 8,000 tons of batteries per year that will be processed through a separation and shredding procedure that will allow the recycling of the materials of the storage system.

In addition to those already mentioned, other plans have been announced for the creation of recycling plants. One of them is Northvolt, which intends to start up a factory capable of recycling 25,000 tons of batteries per year, and also, the one of BASF in Germany, both with the intention of being operational next year.

The alternative to recycling: the second life of batteries

Another trend that has arisen as a result of the increased use of batteries is the possibility of reconditioning electric vehicle batteries as an energy storage solution for other applications. This is known as “Second Life Batteries“.

Indeed, if the useful life of an electric vehicle battery is estimated at around 8 years, the energy remaining inside the battery cells can be extended by 5 to 10 years, depending on the application in which it is used, until it finally reaches its end of life.

This has led to initiatives such as the one of Enel Group, which has used 90 used Nissan Leaf batteries in an energy storage facility in Melilla. Meanwhile, the energy company Powervault has announced its partnership with Renault to equip domestic energy storage systemsbased on batteries from retired electric vehicles.

Not only that, Spain has also been a pioneer in Europe by installing the first chargers powered by second-life batteries on the highway linking Madrid and Valencia.

One way or another, the premise is clear. It is necessary to find a solution for the recycling of around 50,000 tons of batteries that are expected to be discarded from 2027; a figure that could even multiply and reach 700,000 tons in 2035.

Hence, one of the main focuses of work and research at centers such as CIC energiGUNE is the advancement of techniques and solutions that promote the development of the recycling industry. Even more so if we want to ensure that the battery sector becomes a reference in terms of sustainability.

Below, as a summary, from CIC energiGUNE we have gathered the classification of the main agents that have announced to be associated to battery recycling:

The U.S. made a breakthrough battery discovery — then gave the technology to China

This is the story of the former UniEnergy Technologies in Mukilteo, Wash. where Taxpayers spent $15 million on research to build a breakthrough battery. Then the U.S. government gave it to China -,yes then gave it away to China.

When a group of engineers and researchers gathered in a warehouse in Mukilteo, Wash., 10 years ago, they knew they were onto something big. They scrounged up tables and chairs, cleared out space in the parking lot for experiments and got to work.

They were building a battery — a vanadium redox flow battery — based on a design created by two dozen U.S. scientists at a government lab. The batteries were about the size of a refrigerator, held enough energy to power a house, and could be used for decades. The engineers pictured people plunking them down next to their air conditioners, attaching solar panels to them, and everyone living happily ever after off the grid.

“It was beyond promise,” said Chris Howard, one of the engineers who worked there for a U.S. company called UniEnergy. “We were seeing it functioning as designed, as expected.”

It all began in the basement of a government lab, three hours southwest of Seattle, called Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. It was 2006, and more than two dozen scientists began to suspect that a special mix of acid and electrolyte could hold unusual amounts of energy without degrading. They turned out to be right.

It took six years and more than 15 million taxpayer dollars for the scientists to uncover what they believed was the perfect vanadium battery recipe. Others had made similar batteries with vanadium, but this mix was twice as powerful and did not appear to degrade the way cellphone batteries or even car batteries do. The researchers found the batteries capable of charging and recharging for as long as 30 years.

An employee looks at a vanadium flow battery in Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Battery Reliability Laboratory in 2021. Andrea Starr/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Gary Yang, the lead scientist on the project, said he was excited to see if he could make the batteries outside the lab. The lab encourages scientists to do just that, in an effort to bring critical new technology into the marketplace. The lab and the U.S. government still hold the patents, because U.S. taxpayers paid for the research.

In 2012, Yang applied to the Department of Energy for a license to manufacture and sell the batteries.

The agency issued the license, and Yang launched UniEnergy Technologies. He hired engineers and researchers. But he soon ran into trouble. He said he couldn’t persuade any U.S. investors to come aboard.

“I talked to almost all major investment banks; none of them (wanted to) invest in batteries,” Yang said in an interview, adding that the banks wanted a return on their investments faster than the batteries would turn a profit.

Imre Gyuk (left), director of energy storage research in the Office of Electricity of the Department of Energy, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Gary Yang of UniEnergy Technologies stand together in 2015. Office of Gov. Jay Inslee

He said a fellow scientist connected him with a Chinese businessman named Yanhui Liu and a company called Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd., along with its parent company, and he jumped at the chance to have them invest and even help manufacture the batteries.

At first, UniEnergy Technologies did the bulk of the battery assembly in the warehouse. But over the course of the next few years, more and more of the manufacturing and assembling began to shift to Rongke Power, Chris Howard said. In 2017, Yang formalized the relationship and granted Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd. an official sublicense, allowing the company to make the batteries in China.

Any company can choose to manufacture in China. But in this case, the rules are pretty clear. Yang’s original license requires him to sell a certain number of batteries in the U.S., and it says those batteries must be “substantially manufactured” here.

In an interview, Yang acknowledged that he did not do that. UniEnergy Technologies sold a few batteries in the U.S., but not enough to meet its requirements. The ones it did sell, including in one instance to the U.S. Navy, were made in China. But Yang said in all those years, neither the lab nor the department questioned him or raised any issues.

Chris Howard is now the director of operations at Forever Energy in Bellevue, Wash. Jovelle Tamayo for NPR

Then in 2019, Howard said, UniEnergy Technologies officials gathered all the engineers in a meeting room. He said supervisors told them they would have to work in China at Rongke Power Co. for four months at a time.

“It was unclear, certainly to myself and other engineers, what the plan was,” said Howard, who now works for Forever Energy.

Yang acknowledges that he wanted his U.S. engineers to work in China. But he says it was because he thought Rongke Power could help teach them critical skills.

Yang was born in China but is a U.S. citizen and got his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut. He said he wanted to manufacture the entire battery in the U.S., but that the U.S. does not have the supply chain he required. He said China is more advanced when it comes to manufacturing and engineering utility-scale batteries.

“In this field — manufacturing, engineering — China is ahead of the U.S.,” Yang said. “Many wouldn’t believe [it].”

He said he didn’t send the battery and his engineers abroad to help China. He said the engineers in that country were helping his UniEnergy Technologies employees and helping him get his batteries built.

But news reports at the time show the moves were helping China. The Chinese government launched several large demonstration projects and announced millions of dollars in funding for large-scale vanadium batteries.

As battery work took off in China, Yang was facing more financial trouble in the U.S. So he made a decision that would again keep the technology from staying in the U.S.

The EU has strict rules about where companies manufacture products

In 2021, Yang transferred the battery license to a European company based in the Netherlands. The company, Vanadis Power, told NPR it initially planned to continue making the batteries in China and then would set up a factory in Germany, eventually hoping to manufacture in the U.S., said Roelof Platenkamp, the company’s founding partner.

Vanadis Power needed to manufacture batteries in Europe because the European Union has strict rules about where companies manufacture products, Platenkamp said.

“I have to be a European company, certainly a non-Chinese company, in Europe,” Platenkamp said in an interview with NPR.

Gary Yang launched UniEnergy Technologies after the Department of Energy issued him a license to manufacture and sell the vanadium batteries. Jovelle Tamayo for NPR

But the U.S. has these types of rules, too. Any transfer of a U.S. government license requires U.S. government approval so that manufacturing doesn’t move overseas. The U.S. has lost significant jobs in recent years in areas where it first forged ahead, such as solar panels, drones and telecom equipment. Still, when UniEnergy requested approval, it apparently had no trouble getting it.

On July 7, 2021, a top official at UniEnergy Technologies emailed a government manager at the lab where the battery was created. The UniEnergy official said they were making a deal with Vanadis, according to emails reviewed by NPR, and were going to transfer the license to Vanadis.

“We’re working to finalize a deal with Vanadis Power and believe they have the right blend of technical expertise,” the email from UniEnergy Technologies said. “Our transaction with Vanadis is ready to go pending your approval …”

The government manager responded that he needed confirmation before transferring the license and emailed a second employee at UniEnergy. The second employee responded an hour and a half later, and the license was transferred to Vanadis Power.

Whether the manager or anyone else at the lab or Department of Energy thought to check during that hour and a half or thereafter whether Vanadis Power was an American company, or whether it intended to manufacture in the U.S., is unclear. Vanadis’ own website said it planned to make the batteries in China.

In response, department officials said they review each transfer for compliance and said that new rules put in place last summer by the Biden administration will close loopholes and keep more manufacturing here.

But agency officials acknowledged that its reviews often rely on “good faith disclosures” by the companies, which means if companies such as UniEnergy Technologies don’t say anything, the U.S. government may never know.

Joanne Skievaski said she and others from the company repeatedly warned Department of Energy officials that the UniEnergy license was not in compliance. Jovelle Tamayo for NPR

That’s a problem that has plagued the department for years, according to government investigators.

In 2018, the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Energy lacked resources to properly monitor its licenses, relied on antiquated computer systems, and didn’t have consistent policies across its labs.

In this case, it was an American company, Forever Energy, that raised concerns about the license with UniEnergy more than a year ago. Joanne Skievaski said she and others from the company repeatedly warned department officials that the UniEnergy license was not in compliance. In emails NPR has reviewed, department officials told them it was.

“How is it that the national lab did not require U.S. manufacturing?” Skievaski asked. “Not only is it a violation of the license, it’s a violation to our country.”

Now that the Department of Energy has revoked the license, Skievaski said she hopes Forever Energy will be able to acquire it or obtain a similar license. The company plans to open a factory in Louisiana next year and begin manufacturing. She bristles at the idea that U.S. engineers aren’t up to the challenge.

“That’s hogwash,” she said. “We are ready to go with this technology.”

Still, she says it will be difficult for any American company at this point to catch up. Industry trade reports currently list Dalian Rongke Power Co. Ltd. as the top manufacturer of vanadium redox flow batteries worldwide. Skievaski also worries about whether China will stop making the batteries once an American company is granted the right to start making them.

That may be unlikely. Chinese news reports say the country is about to bring online one of the largest battery farms the world has ever seen. The reports say the entire farm is made up of vanadium redux flow batteries.

This story is a partnership with NPR’s Station Investigations Team, which supports local investigative journalism, and the Northwest News Network, a collaboration of public radio stations that broadcast in Oregon and Washington state.

Battery Science 101

What is a battery?

ARGONNE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Batteries power our lives by transforming energy from one type to another.

Whether a traditional disposable battery (e.g. AA) or a rechargeable lithium-ion battery (used in cell phones, laptops and cars), a battery stores chemical energy and releases electrical energy.

There are four key parts in a battery — the cathode (positive side of the battery), the anode (negative side of the battery), a separator that prevents contact between the cathode and anode and a chemical solution known as an electrolyte that allows the flow of electrical charge between the cathode and anode.

Lithium-ion batteries that power cell phones, for example, typically consist of a cathode made of cobalt, manganese, and nickel oxides and an anode made out of graphite, the same material found in many pencils. The cathode and anode store the lithium.

When a lithium-ion battery is turned on, positively charged particles of lithium (ions) move through the electrolyte from the anode to cathode. Chemical reactions occur that generate electrons and convert stored chemical energy in the battery to electrical current.

When you plug in your cell phone to charge the lithium-ion battery, the chemical reactions go in reverse: the lithium ions move back from the cathode to the anode.

As long as lithium ions shuttle back and forth between the anode and cathode, there is a constant flow of electrons. This provides the energy to keep your devices running. Since this cycle can be repeated hundreds of times, this type of battery is rechargeable.

Read more »

HOW DOES A LITHIUM-ION BATTERY WORK?

Lithium-based batteries power our daily lives, from consumer electronics to national defense

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A lithium-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery. It has four key parts:

• 1The cathode (the positive side), typically a combination of nickel, manganese and cobalt oxides.
• 2The anode (the negative side), commonly made out of graphite, the same material found in many pencils.
• 3A separator that prevents contact between the anode and cathode.
• 4A chemical solution known as an electrolyte that moves lithium ions between the cathode and anode. The anode and cathode store lithium.

When the battery is in use, positively charged particles of lithium (ions) move through the electrolyte from the anode to cathode. Chemical reactions occur that generate electrons and convert stored chemical energy in the battery to electrical current.

When the battery is charging, the chemical reactions go
in reverse: the lithium ions move back from the cathode to the anode.

Batteries and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory

Argonne is recognized as a global leader in battery science and technology. Over the past sixty years, the lab’s pivotal discoveries have strengthened the U.S. battery manufacturing industry, aided the transition of the U.S. automotive fleet toward plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles, and enabled greater use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power.

The lab’s research spans every aspect of battery development, from the breakthrough fundamental science of the Argonne-led Joint Center for Energy Storage Research, a DOE Energy Innovation Hub, to the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science, a cross-lab collective of scientists and engineers that solves complex battery problems through multidisciplinary research.

Argonne researchers are also exploring how to accelerate the recycling of lithium-ion batteries through the DOE’s ReCell Center, a collaboration led by Argonne that includes the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as well as Worcester Polytechnic Institute, University of California at San Diego and Michigan Technological University.

For another take on “Batteries 101,” check out DOE Explains.

Eliminating the bottlenecks in performance of lithium-sulfur batteries

Graphical abstract. Credit: Chem (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2022.03.001

Energy storage in lithium-sulfur batteries is potentially higher than in lithium-ion batteries but they are hampered by a short life. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden have now identified the main bottlenecks in performance.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are high on the wish-list for future batteries as they are made from cheaper and more environmentally friendly materials than lithium-ion batteries. They also have higher energy storage capacity and work well at much lower temperatures. However, they suffer from short lifetimes and energy loss. An article just published in the journal Chem by a research group from Uppsala University has now identified the processes that are limiting the performance of the sulfur electrodes that in turn reduces the current that can be delivered. Various different materials are formed during the discharge/charge cycles and these cause various problems. Often a localized shortage of lithium causes a bottleneck.

“Learning about problems allows us to develop new strategies and materials to improve battery performance. Identifying the real bottlenecks is needed to take the next steps. This is big research challenge in a system as complex as lithium-sulfur,” says Daniel Brandell, Professor of Materials Chemistry at Uppsala University who works at the Ångström Advanced Battery Centre.

The study combined various radiation scattering techniques: X-ray analyses were made in Uppsala, Sweden and neutron results came from a large research facility, the Institut Laue Langevin, in Grenoble, France.

“The study demonstrates the importance of using these infrastructures to tackle problems in materials science,” says Professor Adrian Rennie. “These instruments are expensive but are necessary to understand such complex systems as these batteries. Many different reactions happen at the same time and materials are formed and can disappear quickly during operation.”

The study was carried-out as part of a co-operation with Scania CV AB.

“Electric power is needed for the heavy truck business and not just personal vehicles. They must keep up with developments of a range of different batteries that may soon become highly relevant,” says Daniel Brandell.

Ola eyes 5-minute electric scooter charging with StoreDot battery tech

Could this audacious electric scooter be the Honda Cub of the 21st Century? Ola is betting big on the S1

Ola is building the world’s largest motorcycle “Futurefactory,” and planning a staggeringly massive push into India’s electric scooter market. It has now made a “multi-million dollar investment” in an ultra-fast charging battery company from Israel.

It’s no understatement to say the Ola S1 could end up being one of the most important vehicles in the world, full stop. It’s a feature-packed, highway-capable electric scooter designed to sell from as little as US$1,345 – or just under 100,000 Indian Rupees. Even at double the money, it’d be a steal for commuters in Western cities.

Part of that rock-bottom price comes from serious volume; Ola is building the biggest motorcycle factory in history. The Futurefactory under construction now is a colossal, 500-acre, carbon-negative production complex that will be capable of pouring out up to an astonishing 10 million bikes per year once it reaches full capacity – that’s around 15 percent of the entire current global motorcycle production run. So there’s enormous hopes and dreams behind these scoots, and considerable pressure to get the S1 right.

Now, it seems Ola has made a move that could give its bikes some extreme fast-charging capabilities.

The company has made a “multi-million dollar investment” in Israel’s StoreDot, which makes it a “strategic partner” and will allow it to “incorporate and manufacture StoreDot’s fast charging technologies for future vehicles in India.”

Ola’s Futurefactory, now under construction, will be the world’s largest motorcycle manufacturing plant, capable of building 10 million bikes a year

StoreDot claims that its nanodot-enhanced, silicon-dominant anode, XFC lithium-ion cells will go into mass manufacture in 2024 as pouch cells and 4680-family cylinder cells, and they’ll initially be able to deliver 100 miles (160 km) of scooter range in a 5-minute charge, with an impressive 300 Wh/kg specific energy – considerably more energy-dense than today’s state of the art commercial cells. 

Its second-gen solid-state cells, slated for 2028, promise a sky-high 450 Wh/kg, so they’ll be significantly lighter, as well as even faster to charge – StoreDot claims 100 miles in 3 minutes.

And in 10 years’ time, the company says it’s got plans for a “post-lithium” design capable of 100-mile charges in 2 minutes, with a monstrous 550 Wh/kg of energy on board. Such is the “clear, hype-free technology roadmap” that StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf promises partners.

“The future of EVs lies in better, faster and high energy density batteries, capable of rapid charging and delivering higher range,” said Ola founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal in a press release. “We are increasing our investments in core cell and battery technologies and ramping up our in-house capabilities and global talent hiring, as well as partnering with global companies doing cutting edge work in this field. Our partnership with StoreDot, a pioneer of extreme fast charging battery technologies, is of strategic importance and a first of many.”

It all sounds great, but the big unknown here is whether StoreDot will actually finally deliver on its fast-charge battery promises.

We first encountered this company in 2014, when it was planning mass production of smartphone batteries with 30-second charging timeswithin two years. These did not materialize. By 2017, it was saying it’d have 5-minute electric car battery packs popping up as OEM equipment by 2020. These have not yet materialized.

The company has been sending sample batteries to EV manufacturers for testing. “We are not releasing a lab prototype,” Myersdorf told The Guardian in January 2021. “We are releasing engineering samples from a mass production line.

This demonstrates it is feasible and it’s commercially ready.” And yet the nanodot technology in these samples was based on highly expensive germanium, rather than the cheap and widely available silicon, indicating that it was perhaps not quite ready.

Still, StoreDot has taken on at least US$190 million in investments and formed similar strategic partnerships with companies including VinFast, BP, Daimler, Samsung, TDK and Eve Energy – so along with Ola Electric, plenty of serious players have liked what they’ve seen enough to put their money on the line. Last November, StoreDot announced that Eve Energy had managed to produce “A-series samples” of the silicon-dominant batteries in a factory in China. 

We’d all like to see EV charge times drop to the level where a top-up takes no longer than filling a tank of gas. Will StoreDot be the company that makes that a reality? Stay tuned!

Source: StoreDot

Scientists discover new electrolyte for solid-state lithium-ion batteries

Chlorine-based electrolytes like the one shown here are offering improved performance for solid-state lithium-ion batteries. Credit: Linda Nazar/University of Waterloo

In the quest for the perfect battery, scientists have two primary goals: create a device that can store a great deal of energy and do it safely. Many batteries contain liquid electrolytes, which are potentially flammable.

As a result, solid-state lithium-ion batteries, which consist of entirely solid components, have become increasingly attractive to scientists because they offer an enticing combination of higher safety and increased energy density—which is how much energy the battery can store for a given volume.

Researchers from the University of Waterloo, Canada, who are members of the Joint Center for Energy Storage Research (JCESR), headquartered at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, have discovered a new solid electrolyte that offers several important advantages.

This electrolyte, composed of lithium, scandium, indium and chlorine, conducts lithium ions well but electrons poorly. This combination is essential to creating an all-solid-state battery that functions without significantly losing capacity for over a hundred cycles at high voltage (above 4 volts) and thousands of cycles at intermediate voltage.

The chloride nature of the electrolyte is key to its stability at operating conditions above 4 volts—meaning it is suitable for typical cathode materials that form the mainstay of today’s lithium-ion cells.

“The main attraction of a solid-state electrolyte is that it can’t catch fire, and it allows for efficient placement in the battery cell; we were pleased to demonstrate stable high-voltage operation,” said Linda Nazar, a Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry at UWaterloo and a long-time member of JCESR. 

Current iterations of solid-state electrolytes focus heavily on sulfides, which oxidize and degrade above 2.5 volts. Therefore, they require the incorporation of an insulating coating around the cathode material that operates above 4 volts, which impairs the ability of electrons and lithium ions to move from the electrolyte and into the cathode.

“With sulfide electrolytes, you have a kind of conundrum—you want to electronically isolate the electrolyte from the cathode so it doesn’t oxidize, but you still require electronic conductivity in the cathode material,” Nazar said.

While Nazar’s group wasn’t the first to devise a chloride electrolyte, the decision to swap out half of the indium for scandium based on their previous work proved to be a winner in terms of lower electronic and higher ionic conductivity. “Chloride electrolytes have become increasingly attractive because they oxidize only at high voltages, and some are chemically compatible with the best cathodes we have,” Nazar said. “There’s been a few of them reported recently, but we designed one with distinct advantages.

One chemical key to the ionic conductivity lay in the material’s crisscrossing 3D structure called a spinel. The researchers had to balance two competing desires—to load the spinel with as many charge carrying ions as possible, but also to leave sites open for the ions to move through. “You might think of it like trying to a host a dance—you want people to come, but you don’t want it to be too crowded,” Nazar said.

According to Nazar, an ideal situation would be to have half the sites in the spinel structure be lithium occupied while the other half remained open, but she explained that creating that situation is hard to design.

In addition to the good ionic conductivity of the lithium, Nazar and her colleagues needed to make sure that the electrons could not move easily through the electrolyte to trigger its decomposition at high voltage. “Imagine a game of hopscotch,” she said. “Even if you’re only trying to hop from the first square to the second square, if you can create a wall that makes it difficult for the electrons, in our case, to jump over, that is another advantage of this solid electrolyte.”

Nazar said that it is not yet clear why the electronic conductivity is lower than many previously reported chloride electrolytes, but it helps establish a clean interface between the cathode material and solid electrolyte, a fact that is largely responsible for the stable performance even with high amounts of active material in the cathode.

A paper based on the research, “High areal capacity, long cycle life 4 V ceramic all-solid-state Li-ion batteries enabled by chloride solid electrolytes,” appeared in the January 3 online edition of Nature Energy.

Other authors of the paper include Nazar’s graduate student, Laidong Zhou, a JCESR member who was responsible for the majority of the work, and Se Young Kim, Chun Yuen Kwok and Abdeljalil Assoud, all of UWaterloo. Additional authors included Tong-Tong Zuo and Professor Juergen Janek of Justus Liebig University, Germany and Qiang Zhang of the DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Explore further

New solid electrolyte promises cheaper, better all-solid-state lithium batteries

More information: Laidong Zhou et al, High areal capacity, long cycle life 4 V ceramic all-solid-state Li-ion batteries enabled by chloride solid electrolytes, Nature Energy (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-021-00952-0

Journal information: Nature Energy 

Provided by Argonne National Laboratory

EV’s Benefit from Intense Competition in the Silicon Anode for NextGen Batteries Market – $1.9 Billion in Start-Up Funding … So Far

Commercial interest in silicon anodes and investments into start-up companies has continued through 2021 – IDTechEx estimates that $1.9B of funding has now made its way into silicon anode start-ups.

Beyond investments, there has also been greater activity regarding companies beginning to license technologies, enter into supply relationships or commercialize technologies in early adopter markets, highlighting that the promise of silicon anode technology may soon be realized.

For example:• Enevate entered into a license agreement with batterymanufacturer EnerTech International• Enovix went public via a SPAC that valued the company at $1.1B• Elkem established a separate silicon anode company Vianode• Group 14 entered into a joint venture with SK materials for the supply of silane gas• Sila Nano launched their battery technology in the Whoop fitness wearable

IDTechEx estimates that cumulative funding for silicon anode start-ups has reached $1.9B. Source: IDTechEx – “Advanced Li-ion and Beyond Lithium Batteries 2022-2032: Technologies, Players, Trends, Markets“

The above examples of commercial development and investment highlight the ongoing and significant interest in silicon anode technology. Much of this stems from the potential for silicon to significantly improve energy density. But beyond energy density, silicon anodes also have the potential to improve fast charge capability, cost, and safety.

In short, fast-charge capability is feasible due to the high porosity inherent to silicon anode solutions, cost can be reduced due to the high capacity of silicon material resulting in lower material requirements while safety improvements stem from the reduced risk of lithium plating and dendrite formation.

Though cycle and calendar life may need to be further demonstrated, improvements are being made. Combined, silicon anodes present a highly valuable proposition for electric vehicles and indeed the largest opportunity for silicon anode material lies in BEVs with the possibility of silicon being used as an additive or as the dominant active material.

Demand from other EV segments and consumer devices still represent a significant opportunity for silicon anode material and IDTechEx forecast that by 2032, demand for silicon anode material will reach $12.9B.

However, with nearly 30 start-up companies looking to commercialize silicon anode solutions, not to mention development at more established materials and battery players, competition in the silicon anode space is intensifying.

Start-ups and earlier stage companies find themselves in a race to lock in investments, partnerships, and orders. While the market is beginning to look increasingly crowded, the rewards for succeeding will be significant, and this competition will play a role in accelerating the commercialization of the better, cheaper, and more environmentally friendly batteries that are needed for better products and electric vehicles.

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Silicon Anodes as a Solution for Today’s Battery Technology – Scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Explore Opportunities for 10X Energy +Safety

A silicon anode virtually intact after one cycle, with the silicon (green) clearly separate from a component of the solid electrolyte interphase (fluorine, in red). Credit: Chongmin Wang | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Silicon is a staple of the digital revolution, shunting loads of signals on a device that’s likely just inches from your eyes at this very moment.

Now, that same plentiful, cheap material is becoming a serious candidate for a big role in the burgeoning battery business. It’s especially attractive because it’s able to hold 10 times as much energy in an important part of a battery, the anode, than widely used graphite.

But not so fast. While silicon has a swell reputation among scientists, the material itself swells when it’s part of a battery. It swells so much that the anode flakes and cracks, causing the battery to lose its ability to hold a charge and ultimately to fail.

Now scientists have witnessed the process for the first time, an important step toward making silicon a viable choice that could improve the cost, performance and charging speed of batteries for electric vehicles as well as cell phones, laptops, smart watches and other gadgets.

“Many people have imagined what might be happening but no one had actually demonstrated it before,” said Chongmin Wang, a scientist at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Wang is a corresponding author of the paper recently published in Nature Nanotechnology.

Of silicon anodes, peanut butter cups and packed airline passengers

Lithium ions are the energy currency in a lithium-ion battery, traveling back and forth between two electrodes through liquid called electrolyte. When lithium ions enter an anode made of silicon, they muscle their way into the orderly structure, pushing the silicon atoms askew, like a stout airline passenger squeezing into the middle seat on a packed flight. This “lithium squeeze” makes the anode swell to three or four times its original size.

When the lithium ions depart, things don’t return to normal. Empty spaces known as vacancies remain. Displaced silicon atoms fill in many, but not all, of the vacancies, like passengers quickly taking back the empty space when the middle passenger heads for the restroom. But the lithium ions return, pushing their way in again. The process repeats as the lithium ions scoot back and forth between the anode and cathode, and the empty spaces in the silicon anode merge to form voids or gaps. These gaps translate to battery failure.

Scientists have known about the process for years, but they hadn’t before witnessed precisely how it results in battery failure. Some have attributed the failure to the loss of silicon and lithium. Others have blamed the thickening of a key component known as the solid-electrolyte interphase or SEI. The SEI is a delicate structure at the edge of the anode that is an important gateway between the anode and the liquid electrolyte.

In its experiments, the team watched as the vacancies left by lithium ions in the silicon anode evolved into larger and larger gaps. Then they watched as the liquid electrolyte flowed into the gaps like tiny rivulets along a shoreline, infiltrating the silicon. This inflow allowed the SEI to develop in areas within the silicon where it shouldn’t be, a molecular invader in a part of the battery where it doesn’t belong.

That created dead zones, destroying the ability of the silicon to store lithium and ruining the anode.

Think of a peanut butter cup in pristine shape: The chocolate outside is distinct from the soft peanut butter inside. But if you hold it in your hand too long with too tight a grip, the outer shell softens and mixes with the soft chocolate inside. You’re left with a single disordered mass whose structure is changed irreversibly. You no longer have a true peanut butter cup. Likewise, after the electrolyte and the SEI infiltrate the silicon, scientists no longer have a workable anode.

A silicon anode after 100 cycles: The anode is barely recognizable as a silicon structure and is instead a mix of the silicon (green) and the fluorine (red) from the solid electrolyte interphase. Credit: Chongmin Wang | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

The team witnessed this process begin immediately after just one battery cycle. After 36 cycles, the battery’s ability to hold a charge had fallen dramatically. After 100 cycles, the anode was ruined.

Exploring the promise of silicon anodes

Scientists are working on ways to protect the silicon from the electrolyte. Several groups, including scientists at PNNL, are developing coatings designed to act as gatekeepers, allowing lithium ions to go into and out of the anode while stopping other components of the electrolyte.

Scientists from several institutions pooled their expertise to do the work. Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory created the silicon nanowires used in the study. PNNL scientists worked together with counterparts at Thermo Fisher Scientific to modify a cryogenic transmission electron microscope to reduce the damage from the electrons used for imaging. And Penn State University scientists developed an algorithm to simulate the molecular action between the liquid and the silicon.

Altogether, the team used electrons to make ultra-high-resolution images of the process and then reconstructed the images in 3-D, similar to how physicians create a 3-D image of a patient’s limb or organ.

“This work offers a clear roadmap for developing silicon as the anode for a high-capacity battery,” said Wang.

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Explore further

Novel method of imaging silicon anode degradation may lead to better batteries

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More information: Chongmin Wang et al, Progressive growth of the solid–electrolyte interphase towards the Si anode interior causes capacity fading, Nature Nanotechnology (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41565-021-00947-8

Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology

Provided by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

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Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell EV’s? Or Battery Powered EV’s? Toyota is Placing a Bet on the Green Future

Hydrogen Powered Fuel Cell EV’s? Or Battery Powered EV’s? Toyota is Placing a Bet on the Green Future

While Toyota has seen success far and wide as an early pioneer of hybrid cars, it’s had much less luck with another technology it has invested heavily in: hydrogen-powered fuel cell EVs.

While the rest of the electric car market is going heavily battery-powered, Toyota is still banking on hydrogen power in many ways—even as competitors like Honda and BMW have seemingly dialed down their hydrogen ambitions. Now we know that Toyota’s conservative battery EV strategy and its big bet on hydrogen are closely related issues.

Toyota’s HFC Car

A recent report from the New York Times shows that the company’s hydrogen play has become further reaching than just internal development; it has also become political.

Toyota’s H2 Mirai

According to the report, a Toyota executive has been traveling to Washington on behalf of the automaker and has taken steps to slow the entire industry’s adoption of electric vehicles. Chris Reynolds, a high-ranking senior executive for Toyota, reportedly has held closed-door meetings with congressional staff members.

At least four people familiar with the matter told the New York Times that Reynolds argued against an aggressive rollout of fully electric vehicles, instead urging for a focus on hybrids (like the Prius) and other alternatively-fueled vehicles, like hydrogen-powered fuel-cell EVs.

This all comes at a time when multiple automakers are planning to go fully or mostly battery electric in the years to come, often driven by tightening emissions rules in China and Europe. Toyota, on the other hand, feels incredibly late to the EV game.

Despite Toyota’s recent ambitious plans to launch 15 fully electric cars by 2025, it has only shown the world a concept of its upcoming bZ4X while other manufacturers like Audi, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar, Porsche, Volvo, and Volkswagen all have at least one BEV for sale today.

So if Toyota can persuade lawmakers of the importance of hybrids over EVs and successfully stymie funding for EV-related infrastructure and incentives, it could give the automaker more time to separate from its crutch on hybrids and catch up to other manufacturers.

The potential impact of lobbying against BEVs can be seen in the recently proposed infrastructure spending bill, which cuts the government funding for expanding the EV charging infrastructure in half of what was anticipated by President Joe Biden’s staffers to deploy 500,000 EV charging stations nationwide.

In addition to doing a potential disservice to American EV adopters, these actions could potentially impede the already full-speed efforts by other automakers pushing towards aggressive EV rollouts.

It is worth noting, Reynolds was recently named board chair for the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. The alliance is a lobbying organization that represents the interests of many automakers and OEM suppliers, many of which aren’t as heavily invested in hydrogen power or hybrids as Toyota.