6K has formally entered the energy storage market with a new division called 6K ENERGY. The move follows three years of development supported by commercial customers and the US DOE. The company’s UniMelt plasma system produces NMC cathode materials in a volume process.

“We have built an extremely talented team of energy material experts that have now demonstrated a unique ability to synthesize NMC, LTO, LLZO, silicon anode, and other advanced materials in a chemistry-agnostic approach,” said 6K CEO Dr Aaron Bent. “Now that we can match the performance of a best-in-class commercial NMC-622 in a volume production plasma, it became clear that we have something very unique and should accelerate efforts.” 

6K recently completed testing of its NMC-622 at an independent validation laboratory. The company says that the testing was consistent with 6K’s internal testing results showing a reversible capacity of nearly 180 mAh/g and first cycle efficiency of 92%. 

“The combination of chemistry and morphology flexibility enables customers to create designer materials tailored for the specific energy, power and life requirements of their applications, at a pace not previously possible,” explained 6K VP Dr. Richard Holman. “Our UniMelt technology offers total control over the chemistry and morphology of advanced battery materials at a lower cost, while also delivering a production solution in a much more sustainable way.”

6K continues its development of high-nickel cathodes using the UniMelt process under its DOE Phase 2 SBIR program, and will soon be doing limited sampling to select customers. 6K is also expanding its activities in energy storage materials with several cathode development projects with external partners, and is developing a novel architecture of high-energy silicon anodes to enable high cycle life with high Si contents and low production costs. 

Source: 6K