The United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) has awarded a $4-million contract to SiNode Systems for the development of advanced anode materials for automotive lithium-ion batteries.

The 30-month program will focus on the development of silicon-graphene anode material for vehicle applications, and the development and scale-up of pouch cells.

SiNode’s technology uses a composite of silicon and graphene in a layered structure designed to overcome technical hurdles to silicon anodes such as volumetric expansion and unstable SEI that leads to poor cycle life.

The SiNode materials architecture disperses silicon nanoparticles within a flexible 3D graphene network that stabilizes the Si active material during charge and discharge, leading to minimal volume change during cycling. The graphene also offers enhanced electronic conductivity.

SiNode says that its technology offers 43% more energy density (Wh/L) and 42% more specific energy (Wh/kg) over leading artificial graphite, as well as a 47% advantage in volumetric capacity over competing silicon technologies.

“We believe our advanced anode materials technology will be an enabler in improving the performance and reducing the cost of advanced batteries for vehicle electrification,” said SiNode CEO Samir Mayekar.

Source:SiNode Systems via Green Car Congress