CHAMPAIGN, Ill., April 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Solid-state battery pioneer
Natrion has announced it was recognized as a Gold Winner at The
Edison Awards in the Resilient & Sustainable Solutions
category. The award comes as Natrion hits major technical
milestones towards commercializing solid-state battery materials
for electric vehicles (EV) and other e-mobility applications at
scale.
Natrion was presented with its Gold Edison Award at the
April 18th Awards Gala in
Fort Myers, Florida, alongside
some of the most prestigious and accomplished innovators.
"It is wonderful for our company to receive this recognition,"
said Natrion co-founder and CEO Alex
Kosyakov. "Being awarded is a testament to the hard work,
skill, and output of our team, as well as the maturity of our
technology and its value to OEMs around the world."
The Edison Award coincides with Natrion's significant recent
technical and commercialization progress on its patented components
for both Li-ion and Li-metal batteries, positioning it as the
industry leader for solid-state technology.
Natrion hits 430 Wh/kg threshold in LMBs
Natrion has conducted additional validation of next-gen Li-metal
battery (LMB) cells leveraging its patented solid-state electrolyte
separator, called LISIC. These cells differ from current-gen Li-ion
batteries (LIBs) by using a metallic lithium anode instead of
traditional graphite anode material.
The tests have shown:
- Retained Charge/Discharge Speeds at Increased Areal
Capacities: Since Q4 2022, Natrion has doubled the areal
capacity of its prototype LMB cells without compromising
charge/discharge rates, now attaining 4.0 mAh/cm2 cells
in testing.
- High Cyclability at Near-Ambient Conditions: These 4.0
mAh/cm2 cells have exceeded 200 cycles at ambient
temperatures with just 34 psi of additional external pressure
(roughly the amount of pressure in the average car tire). By
contrast, many alternative LMB solutions require over 200 psi to
operate — significantly complicating EV battery pack design and
construction and impeding their use in consumer electronics.
- Breakthrough Energy Density: The new increased areal
capacity maximizes efficiency, thus enabling cells with over 430
Wh/kg of energy density. This is an over 50% improvement compared
to the current state-of-the-art LIBs (roughly 280 Wh/kg). The
augmented energy density translates to 50% more driving range on a
single charge in an electric vehicle (EV) using the same size
battery.
Key features of the 4.0 mAh/cm2 LMB cells
include:
- M3 Liquid Wetting Agent: While LISIC is a solid-state
electrolyte which moves ions between the electrodes, Natrion's
patented M3 is a non-flammable liquid which moves ions inside of
the electrodes and facilitates robust LMB charge/discharge
performance at lower pressures.
- LISIC Quality Improvements: Natrion's Gen-1 LISIC
separator is now just 12 micrometers thick, boosting cell
efficiency and charge transfer speeds.
- Unparalleled Thermal Stability: Another critical
differentiation of LISIC/M3-based LMBs is that they have been shown
to remain benign even when fully charged and subjected to
temperatures well in excess of the melting point of lithium metal
(~350°F).
"This level of thermal event mitigation in a cell with metallic
lithium and high-nickel NMC cathode at 100% state-of-charge should
put to rest any debates about the safety of LMBs made with LISIC
and M3," remarked Kosyakov.
LISIC Shows Promise for Delivering Better LIB
Performance
Natrion also performed additional testing on its LISIC separator
inside of graphite-based LIBs to reflect current state-of-the-art
batteries in use in EVs and consumer electronics today.
While the chief reason for applying LISIC to LIBs was initially
for safety given the material's high thermal resilience, Natrion's
new testing results suggest that the electrolyte separator has an
unexpected additional benefit: it was shown to also augment energy
performance in LIBs in addition to making them fire-safe.
LIBs made with LISIC separators showed a 10-15% greater
discharge energy capacity compared to identical baseline cells
using off-the-shelf polyethylene (PE)/polypropylene (PP) liquid
electrolyte separators under identical test conditions.
"Seeing these profound advancements in cell performance has been
highly encouraging," added Kosyakov. "Not only can we leverage
solid-state separators like LISIC to reduce fire risks, but we can
also extract additional energy density to greatly improve today's
EVs, consumer electronics, eVTOLs, and more."
Commercial Scale Readiness
Looking forward, Natrion continues to scale its ability to
deliver its patented components to potential customers.
"Our team has also been hard at work to ready our production
processes for the LISIC and M3," said Krishna Iyer, Natrion's Director of Process
Engineering. "We are hitting our target line speeds and our quality
control is at a maturity where we can produce rolls of LISIC that
are 80+ millimeters in width and can be integrated into cells. With
enlarged line widths we hope to target a throughput of 20 tons per
annum by 2026, which is enough for 240 MWh of batteries or over
3,000 EVs."
About Natrion
Natrion is a leader in solid-state
battery innovation, producing fire-safe, high-performance and
manufacturer-friendly components for an all-electric future.
Founded in 2018 by Forbes Under 30 founders Alex Kosyakov and
Thomas Rouffiac, the company was a winner of the LG Energy Solution
Battery Challenge 2022 and 2021 MassChallenge Boston. It also
participated in Y Combinator S2019 and NYU Stern's Endless
Frontiers Lab. It has received over $3
million from investors including Mark Cuban, TechNexus Venture Collaborative, and
Tamarack Global, as well as multiple grants and contracts from the
U.S. Department of Defense. The company is headquartered in
Binghamton, New York with
operations in Champaign,
Illinois.
About the Edison Awards™
Established in 1987, the
Edison Awards are dedicated to recognizing, honoring and fostering
innovations and innovators. Named after Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931), the annual
competition honors excellence in new product and service
development, marketing, design and innovation. For more information
visit www.edisonawards.com.
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SOURCE Natrion