lithium-sulfur

Oxis Energy and the Minas Gerais Development Company Codemge aim to have a 200MWh lithium-sulfur cell manufacturing plant operating in Brazil within three years after leasing a plant from Mercedes Benz Brazil (MBB).

The UK firm has signed a 15-year-lease agreement to take possession of a plant located at the MBB manufacturing site in Juiz de Fora, in the state of Minas Gerais, in south east Brazil.

Lithium-sulfur company Oxis Energy continues to go from strength to strength with news this week its prototype cells have reached 471Wh/kg.

The company has been making incremental advances with the technology since announcing it had reached its 400Wh/kg milestone in 2016.

A trading partnership will see Sanyo Trading Company market UK battery developer Oxis Energy’s lithium-sulfur and battery systems in Japan.

Sanyo will target the motive markets­– such as trains, buses and trucks–and provide pre and post sales support to the Japanese market and where necessary.

UK lithium-sulfur firm Oxis Energy has reported its development cell has reached double the specific capacity of an average lithium-ion battery.

Internal tests show the cell reaches 400Wh/kg following three years of work by OXIS scientific team's work on increasing gravimetric energy density of its new ultra-light cell chemistry.

The development was made through a high capacity cathode active material coupled with a newly developed electrolyte formation.

The company’s cells had previously achieved 325Wh/kg in 2015 through its developments on the Innovate UK funded REVB project.

However, it could be two years before these new cells are market ready or being used at an industrial level.

An Oxis spokesman told BEST: “The testing and validation stage for any new battery product entering the market is a lengthy process as the performance and safety must be assessed to international standards by an approval third party testing organization.”

OXIS advanced the energy density through the creation of new lithium-sulfur material formulations, which it integrated along with improving the cell design and production processes.

This was due to a Joint Development Agreement with French chemical corporations company Arkema material, which was present in the iteration of cell design.

A company spokesman said: “The cells are being tested internally at the moment, but will be produced for our partners in the automotive, space and defence sectors in the coming months once internal validation has been completed.

“The collaboration focused on maximising the gravimetric energy through the use of a new high capacity cathode active material coupled with a newly developed electrolyte formation.”

Huw Hampson-Jones, CEO of OXIS said: "Cells are already being deployed for testing for vehicle demonstration and development. Subject to continuing scientific progress, the significance of 400Wh-kg means that the ability to eliminate distance anxiety for consumers will become a reality as well as the eventual replacement of fossilized fuel vehicles."