LeydenJar Technologies is ready to start producing new lithium-ion anode that can be made from 100% silicon while offering higher energy density.
The spinout from the Dutch applied research institute TNO, claims its breakthrough technology offers batteries with an energy density of 1350 Wh/L for more than 100 cycles at a C/2 rate.
The test pouch cells were built using commercially available battery materials, such as NMC622 cathodes, and LeydenJar’s silicon anode, which is derived from solar cell production technology (plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition, or PECVD).
LeydenJar expects to be able to significantly improve the cycle life performance.
The firm says the new technology does not push up production costs and is a ‘plug-in’ solution to existing battery gigafactories.
Pure silicon anode is porous, allowing it to absorb the swelling of the silicon during lithiation, allowing it to use the maximum capacity of silicon, while remaining mechanically stable.
The silicon is grown directly on the copper substrate with PECVD, a method used in the PV and semiconductor industry to grow thin films.
LeydenJar altered this process to grow silicon columns that lead to high anode area loading, enabling energy density up to 1.350 Wh/l at lithiated stack level.
The pure silicon anodes are produced in a single process step on a roll-to-roll PECVD machine, located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
