By Kevin Brundish, Chief Executive Officer, LionVolt B.V.
Concluding in December last year, the most recent UN climate change conference – or COP 28 – closed with an “agreement that signals the ‘beginning of the end’ of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance”.
Cynics might raise an eyebrow while voicing the well-worn idiom that they’ll “believe it when they see it”.
Such a reaction is understandable; it feels like we’ve been here before. Many, many times.
But the tide is turning when it comes to battery technology, and it’s turning at the right time: consumer demand for sustainable technologies in travel, healthcare and daily life is surging, and the need for eco-friendly, high-performance batteries has never been more critical.
The shared aspiration of specialists in this sector is to accelerate electrification by addressing the many needs of the market with superior energy density performance batteries. Range anxiety being a good example of why some are nervous to adopt electric vehicles, alongside ease of charging and of course cost. So a cost-competitive and sustainable battery with superior performance is what everybody wants. This must come with no compromise to safety, and must match the life of existing products in use (which will typically outlast the life of a vehicle).
But how do we get there?
Founded in 2020, LionVolt is among the companies that are rising to this challenge. And it all revolves around innovative 3D structured lithium-metal anodes.
Let’s first take a look at how the current lithium-ion technology works and then dive into lithium-metal anodes and the benefits these may bring, what their potential applications are, and what the hurdles are on the pathway to widespread adoption.
Today’s lithium-ion technology
The go-to product in widespread use today is the lithium-ion battery. Given the move to electrification in many industries, including automotive, this technology is being rapidly developed to improve energy density, allowing extended range for vehicles and longer times in between charges for consumer electronics items such as phones and laptops.
A typical lithium-ion battery cell has historically used a lithium based compound in one of the two electrodes (the cathode), and a carbon based material in the other (the anode). To pack even more energy into these cells means changing these materials for more energetic alternatives.
Over the years, substantial work has been done on the lithium compound – the cathode – whereas the carbon based electrode – the anode – has remained relatively unchanged. But that is changing.
Newer anodes which introduce materials such as silicon doped carbon compounds, have been developed, but even these are just evolutions of the historical design. A more revolutionary approach is required, which is why the industry is now looking to swap out the carbon material entirely and replace it with a higher performing alternative. Lithium-metal anodes are seen as one of the most promising contenders to achieve exactly this.
Lithium-metal anodes: benefits and applications
The emerging solution now being considered is a new anode material, with pure lithium-metal materials being one of the frontrunners.
How do they compare to traditional lithium-ion batteries and their carbon-based anodes? Well, it’s hard to do justice to the science in a short article, but it hinges the fact that lithium metal has around 10 times more energy capacity than the original carbon based materials. By utilising this anode material, substantially more energy can be packed into the same volume or material weight, boosting the energy density of the battery cell.
A lithium-metal based anode could be used in a conventional cell as a drop in replacement for the carbon based anode, and give an uplift in energy of around 1.5 times. However, lithium-metal based battery cells face challenges of relatively low charging speed and low life, so there have to be some changes in the cell design to manage this.
Companies such as LionVolt are working on different methods to tackle these challenges. The approach of LionVolt is to apply a 3D structure on the anode, which is one of the few solutions that overcomes both the challenge of low charging speed and the challenge of low life. This makes a lithium-metal anode a practical reality. And, as a drop in solution that can be made for a similar cost per kwh, we can continue to enjoy the trends of price reduction being seen across the industry.
What’s more, there’s also considerable potential for the LionVolt approach in next generation solutions such as solid state and sodium (salt) batteries. Solid state offers even higher energy densities and significantly greater safety, but requires a metal anode – such as a LionVolt 3D lithium anode – that can deliver the performance and life for an affordable price. Sodium-ion cells offer a great alternative to lithium-ion; as sodium is more widely available it is more sustainable, cheaper and has properties which make it safer. However sodium-ion cells are lower in energy density than lithium ion cells, and therefore need the performance benefit of a new anode material such as a sodium anode – a further application of the LionVolt 3D anode approach. .
But whatever the material used, not only do new anode technologies increase today’s range, they can be ‘dropped into’ the existing supply chain. And, in the case of LionVolt – which is based in Eindhoven in the Netherlands – almost 80 percent of the supply chain needed for the production line can be sourced locally.
So what can these batteries actually be used in?
Well, anything that needs power is a potential candidate for this technology. Initial activity, though, is focused on enabling advancements in electric vehicles (EVs), consumer electronics (including the fast growing consumer wearables segment), and even electric aviation. All share the twin objectives of increasing range or device time and charging more quickly – on top of doing so at less cost to the planet.
In the case of EVs, for example, the greatly increased energy density of these cells means that drivers can travel in excess of 800 km on a single 15-minute charge – this represents approximately four times the ability of traditional batteries.
And it’s only a matter of time before planes get a piece of the action, perhaps first via a hybrid approach that sees engineers unload the propulsion engine or improve efficiencies even further than those available today.
Hurdles
While the next generation of batteries is starting to meet the growing demand for green energy storage in various sectors, full-scale uptake is being hampered by a range of factors, including inertia, ignorance, and the continued dominance of oil and the internal combustion engine.
But the transition to a low-carbon economy is good for governments keen to improve and demonstrate sustainability initiatives. So its acceleration could be facilitated by these same governments, whether through grants, infrastructural investment or tax breaks. Savvy private investors might also see the opportunities that this technology brings to their portfolios. Also taking into account that the replacement potential of next generation batteries is vast. As such, the lithium-ion battery cell market value is forecasted to total USD 400 bn per annum in 2030.
By making such better-performing, more durable and more sustainable batteries for multiple applications, this methodology can tangibly contribute to the clean energy transition – something that readers can be a part of and which the world is watching.
This article appeared in the October 2024 issue of Energy Manager magazine. Subscribe here.