Belgian battery materials technology and recycling company Umicore said on Tuesday it inaugurated one of the world‘s largest and most advanced solid-state battery (SSB) material prototyping facilities in Olen, Belgium.
It will expand and accelerate the company’s innovation and technology development. It expects solid-state batteries to feature in electric mobility and will complement Umicore’s portfolio of battery materials technologies.
The 600 m² facility’s installations and equipment supports the full chain of solid-state battery development, the company said. It ranges from the formulation of the materials, their characterisation and production, to battery cell assembly and subsequent testing at battery level.
Umicore has transformed an industrial building on its Olen site, also its R&D headquarters, into this new facility.
SSB materials are extremely sensitive to moisture and require specialised infrastructure, including exceptionally dry air. Humidity levels inside Umicore’s laboratory are at less than 0.1%. It said 200,000 m3 per hour of dry air is blown through the facilities. It said such dry air is essential for the accurate testing, analysis and development of cathode active materials.
Umicore’s battery materials technology portfolio consists of its present mid-to-high nickel NMC, near-term manganese-rich HLM and future sodium-ion cathodes and SSBs.
It believes this complete approach makes it possible to develop new material categories. Last year, Umicore and petroleum company Idemitsu Kosan agreed to jointly develop high-performance catholytes for lithium-ion SSBs.
