The Elements of Innovation Discovered
The Elements of Innovation Discovered
Metal Tech News - September 18, 2023
DOE is investing $16 million to accelerate commercialization of game-changing solid-state battery technology for electric vehicles and flow battery tech for the grid-scale storage of electricity from intermittent renewable energy sources.
A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist tests a water-soluble organic material as a potential substitute for vanadium in flow batteries for grid-scale storage of renewable electricity.
To speed the commercialization of emerging battery technologies, the U.S. Department of Energy is investing $11 million into solid-state batteries that promise to extend the range and reduce the fire risk of electric vehicles, and $5 million into flow batteries that can serve as a buffer between intermittent renewable power sources and customer demand.
While each of these technologies have the potential to offer superior performance in powering an envisioned clean energy future where EVs can be charged with zero-carbon electricity, they each have technical and commercialization hurdles that must be overcome to fully realize their promised capabilities.
To help overcome these hurdles, the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is investing in five projects that will involve a collaboration between DOE national laboratories and industry partners to expedite the transition from innovation to commercialization.
"These selections will be crucial in the nation's efforts to decarbonize the grid, industry, and transportation, paving the way for a clean energy future benefiting all Americans," DOE wrote.
With the capacity to store much more energy in a smaller space, charge faster, last longer, and be safer than traditional lithium-ion batteries, solid-state lithium batteries will be a game-changer for EVs and portable electronics.
Unlike the conventional lithium-ion batteries powering the current early generation of EVs, lithium solid-state batteries replace the flammable liquid electrolyte with a solid one and use lithium metal as the anode. This enables better safety and more energy storage, innovations that could revolutionize industry.
"A solid-state battery has higher energy density than a Li-ion battery that uses liquid electrolyte solution. It doesn't have a risk of explosion or fire, so there is no need to have components for safety, thus saving more space," Samsung SDI explains on its solid-state battery stage.
Every major automaker and battery manufacturer on Earth understands that solid-state batteries are the ideal solution for EVs and are investing heavily in the technology. Perfecting solid-state batteries and then scaling the technology up in an energy transition that is already being built around lithium-ion, however, is challenging.
The $11 million being invested by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy will support three projects focused on overcoming barriers to commercial-scale solid-state battery production in the U.S.
Utilizing $4 million of these funds, Oak Ridge National Laboratory is working with industry partners Intecells and HighT-Tech to develop a scalable process for manufacturing solid-state lithium batteries with a nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode and oxide-based electrolytes.
Intecells has developed a 3D printing technique for manufacturing battery cells in customizable shapes with higher energy density and at lower costs.
HighT-Tech has developed a sintering process for manufacturing solid electrolytes that overcome technical and manufacturing challenges to lithium solid-state battery commercialization, including the formation of dendrites that shorts the battery.
Working with these industry partners, Oak Ridge plans to transform the current batch process for fabricating and sintering oxide-based electrolytes to a continuous process. This project will also integrate the cathode, electrolyte, and anode into full cells.
At the same time, National Renewable Energy Laboratory is working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, and four industry partners – Solid Power, SkyNano, Epic Advanced Materials, and Mott Corporation – to advance next-generation lithium solid-state battery technology through novel dry process electrode manufacturing.
This collaboration is using $4 million of the DOE funding to combine state-of-the-art modeling, advanced characterization, new material formulation, novel high-throughput processing, and a unique three-dimensional cell architecture capable of commercially manufacturing high-energy solid-state batteries.
Argonne National Laboratory is applying another $3 million of the solid-state battery funding to optimizing solid-state electrolytes for use in safer and higher-capacity batteries.
Argonne is working with Oak Ridge National Lab and seven industry partners – Ampcera, Arkema, Forge Nano, Ion Storage Systems, Koura Global, NEI Corp., and Soelect – to enhance various aspects of solid-state battery electrolytes, while also investigating the integration of innovative roll-to-roll techniques into commercial-scale production.
Together, these projects are designed to establish capabilities or facilities that take fundamental solid-state electrolyte research out of the lab and into facilities that scale up manufacturing of this game-changing battery technology.
While eliminating liquid electrolytes has the potential to revolutionize EVs, the commercialization of all-liquid redox flow batteries could be a step-change for grid-scale renewable energy storage.
When it comes to cost, flexibility, quick response, reliability, and safety, flow batteries offer several advantages over lithium-ion and other storage technologies for keeping energy grids energized and stable.
The amount of energy a flow battery can store is only limited by the size of the storage tanks built to hold the liquid electrolytes, which are separated by a membrane that allows electrons to flow back and forth during charging and discharging.
"Redox flow batteries help create a more stable grid because of their ability to store large amounts of energy from intermittent renewable sources like the wind or sun," Pacific Northwest National Lab penned on its redox flow battery page of its website.
Flow batteries, however, must overcome the economies-of-scale hurdle in order to compete with lithium-ion.
"This makes research into and development of more efficient and inexpensive redox flow batteries critical to grid modernization," PNNL added.
The $5 million being invested by DOE aims to address technical and manufacturing challenges inherent to U.S. flow battery production.
PNNL is collaborating with three industry partners – ESS, Inc., Otoro Energy, Inc., and Chemours Company – to help overcome these challenges through the development of standardized redox flow battery electrolytes and stacks.
The goal of this $2.9 million project is to reduce the cost of manufacturing redox flow battery components and systems by implementing standardized designs and processes.
The remaining $2.1 million of flow battery funding will be used by Oak Ridge National Lab to develop high-density flow batteries.
Oak Ridge is working with Kraton Corp., Stryten Energy, Perma Pure, and the Georgia Institute of Technology on a three-year project to develop a prototype based on a new redox flow battery architecture that can deliver increased power, along with a standardized material processing and cell fabrication protocol for this new and improved architecture.
DOE says the advancements in both redox flow and solid-state battery technologies "will help the U.S. achieve the goals set by the Biden-Harris Administration of carbon-free electricity by 2035 and net-zero emissions by 2050."
With more than 16 years of covering mining, Shane is renowned for his insights and and in-depth analysis of mining, mineral exploration and technology metals.
Reader Comments(0)