Australian mining firm Archer Exploration has signed an R&D agreement with the University of New South Wales to focus on carbon-based energy storage technology.
The cooperation will develop graphite and graphene-based materials for lithium-ion batteries— “potentially generating technologies and patents that have commercial applications in reliable energy”, Archer said.
The mining firm said the partnership combines its graphite and graphene materials with the university’s R&D capabilities as the global lithium-ion battery market “is forecast to grow over the next 10 years to $130 billion”.
According to Archer, the “primary focus of the collaboration is on the rational design of high-performance electrodes for lithium-ion batteries using graphite and graphene” sourced from Archer’s Campoona deposit in South Australia.
“This work is expected to result in the development of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries and the implementation of these electrodes in a number of advanced application full-cell and half-cell configurations,” Archer said.
The graphite and graphene-based materials developed “would be tailored electronically, chemically and structurally for mobile and stationary device applications with specific performance requirements”, Archer said.
