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… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "silicon anodes"
XG Sciences receives DOE grant for silicon-graphene anode technology
Michigan-based XG Sciences has received a DOE Round 2 small business award for $150,000, which it will use to support its efforts to develop low-cost manufacturing of a silicon-graphene composite anode. One goal for the new anode type is to reduce the formation of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI). The SEI layer is both a… Read more »
Paraclete Energy says its low-cost silicon nanoparticles can at least double your current anode capacity
Silicon has a theoretical charge capacity ten times higher than typical graphite. That is why a mind-blowing number of researchers are working towards replacing more and more of the graphite used in today’s lithium-ion battery anodes with silicon. In the last issue of Charged, we discussed Tesla’s announcement that it had begun to use small… Read more »
Tesla tweaks its battery chemistry: a closer look at silicon anode development
In mid-July, Tesla Motors made a trio of Model S update announcements. The new options included a 70 kWh rear-wheel-drive base model, an upgrade for the high-end battery pack from 85 to 90 kWh (providing about a 6% increase in range), and Ludicrous mode, which offers a 10% improvement in the car’s 0 to 60… Read more »
Silicon rally: EnerG2’s new silicon battery anode material
It seems that every time the hottest new smartphone or tablet comes out, one of the biggest points of contention among users is its battery life. The demands put on the batteries run them down faster than users would like, and the OEMs can’t simply increase the batteries’ size while still hitting their targets for… Read more »
Cambridge researchers get a close-up view of silicon expansion in Li-ion batteries
Researchers have been interested in silicon as a replacement for carbon in battery anodes for many years, as it has roughly ten times more storage capacity. However, there’s also a tragic flaw: silicon atoms absorb lithium atoms, causing the silicon to expand up to three times in volume, degrading the battery. Now a team at… Read more »
Silicon nanowire batterymaker Amprius raises $30 million in Series C funding
Amprius, a developer of lithium-ion batteries using silicon anodes, has raised $30 million in a Series C funding round, which it will use to commercialize its batteries and further develop the next generation. The company introduced its first generation of batteries in May 2013, and is supplying smartphone and tablet OEMs with its first two… Read more »
NEO Battery Materials develops a uniform nanocoating manufacturing technique
NEO Battery Materials, a silicon anode material manufacturer, has created a nanocoating manufacturing technique with its patented NBMSiDE silicon anode materials. NEO can create uniform nanocoating layers from uniformly-coated silicon particles to improve NBMSiDE’s performance. NBMSiDE capacity retention was previously poor due to the mechanical degradation of non-uniform coatings. NEO says that this uniform nanocoating… Read more »
Westwater Resources is building a facility in Alabama to process one of the largest graphite deposits in the US
Q&A with Jon Jacobs of Westwater Resources Everyone in the EV industry is talking about the IRA and the BIL, two sets of federal regulations that include strong incentives for automakers to establish domestic supply chains for EV raw materials and components. Not everyone is happy about the requirements, and there are a number of… Read more »
Umicore invests in Blue Current to scale up solid-state battery tech development
Belgian circular materials technology company Umicore has purchased a minority stake in California-based solid-state battery manufacturer Blue Current. This investment complements the companies’ joint development agreement (JDA) to integrate Umicore’s battery materials into Blue Current’s solid-state battery technology. By providing capital—in addition to supplying battery materials under the JDA—Umicore intends to drive market adoption of… Read more »