Disordered rocksalt Li-excess structures, such as Li3NbO4, have been demonstrated to achieve capacities of greater than 300 mAh/g reversible capacities at elevated temperatures. The high capacity is believed to be due to reversible redox chemistry of the oxide anions. This new class of high-energy cathode materials provides an opportunity for a step change increase in cell-level energy density. In this presentation, we demonstrate material improvements which enable high specific capacity and cycle life.

In this presentation, we will share the ALD coating approach and results from ALD coating on battery components, such as cathode, anode, solid electrolyte, etc. By utilizing ultra-thin ALD coatings, we can stabilize the cathode materials, and hence improve the cycle life and fast charging, and are able to use low-cobalt cathodes (NMCs, LLS, LMO, etc.).

The price of cobalt, a key element within lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) for stability, has nearly tripled over the past few years. The reduction or the elimination of cobalt is essential for reducing the cost and assuring the supply of lithium-ion batteries. This talk will report on the development of a novel three-dimensional (3D) doping approach that is poised to resolve some long-standing challenges in fundamental doping effects on high-Ni Co-free battery materials, plus reduce the cost and improve the safety, energy density, and lifetime of LIBs.

Advances over state-of-the-art vanadium redox flow battery include: 35% less vanadium for the same capacity; reduction in tank volume by 50%; and reduction in cell area by up to 80% for the same power. The DC battery platform is scalable and licensable, with a unique business model. Round-trip DC energy efficiency is 75% at 45°C, at an electrode power density of 360 mW/cm2.

We discover several new crystalline solid materials with fast single crystal Li-ion conductivity at room temperature, discovered through density functional theory simulations guided by machine learning-based methods. In this work, we perform a guided search of materials space with a machine learning (ML)-based prediction model for material selection and density functional theory molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) simulations for calculating ionic conductivity.

The properties of batteries are often determined by complex phases and interfaces that are challenging to investigate with experiments or first-principles calculations. Simulations based on accurate and efficient machine-learning (ML) models trained on first-principles data can provide insight into atomic-scale phenomena in such phases. The current state-of-the-art ML models will be demonstrated for nanostructured amorphous LiSi alloys and amorphous LiPON electrolytes.

K-ion batteries have recently emerged as an alternative energy storage system because of their potential low cost. However, their energy density is limited when layered oxides, which are commercialized for Li-ion batteries, are used as cathodes because of strong K-K interaction in the layered structure. This presentation will demonstrate how strong K-K interaction limits the energy density of the K-layered oxides and why K-polyanion compounds have higher energy density than the K-layered oxides.

At half the weight of lithium-ion, lithium sulfur is seen by many as the next-generation battery technology. Here presented will be: 1) an overview of lithium sulfur; 2) strengths and weaknesses of the technology for different applications; 3) case studies of batteries developed and being developed for these applications; and 4) how production of both the cell components and cells are being scaled up and the associated timescales.

The silicon nanowire anode technology addresses silicon swelling by enabling silicon to expand and contract internally, in a very robust mechanical structure. As a result, over 1200 Wh/L and 400 Wh/kg levels of energy density were achieved in lithium-ion cells with a cycle life in the hundreds of cycles, enabling new devices and applications.

Sisom and ULVAC are collaborating to develop engineered particles that will enable the use of both Li and Si as stable anode materials with more than 3000 mAh/g capacity. These engineered particles can also be used in fabricating the cathode. The combination of engineered particles based anode and engineered particles based cathode will lead to safe, high energy density, and long cycle life batteries needed for widespread adoption of consumer electronics and electric vehicles.