Energy storage start-up 3DBattery Company and lithium-ion developer NEI Corporation are set to progress work on an advanced anode material with a water-based electrode deposition process after receiving a $900,000 grant.
The grant from BIRD Energy— a joint R&D program between the US and Israel— is for the integration of a new generation of high performance and low-cost lithium-ion batteries.
During the eighteen-month project, US-based NEI Corporation and Israel-based 3DBattery Company aim to develop materials that can be used with a water-based ion-conducting polymer binder, followed by pairing with a silicon-based anode.
The project will enable the companies to merge their technologies— the former’s cathode, anode, and electrolyte materials and the latter’s silicon-based anode— to develop state of the art lithium-ion battery technology using a systems approach paradigm.
The performance of the new materials and associated processes will be demonstrated at the pouch-cell level.
The companies expect to roll out the first generation of their electrode products by the end of the first quarter of 2021. The products will be optimised while the production is scaled through the rest of the year.
BIRD Energy was established by the U.S. Department of Energy and Israel’s Ministry of Energy together with the Israel Innovation Authority. The program is managed by the Israel-U.S. BIRD (Binational Industrial Research and Development) Foundation.
