Chemical Engineering October 2013 - 20

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can be obtained from the production of
polysilicon for solar photovoltaic cells.
CalBattery has worked with Argonne
and other facilities to develop
the new anode material to work in a
full Li-ion battery with multiple cathode
and electrolyte materials. CalBattery
says its initial results suggest that
the advanced anode material could
eventually replace conventional graphite-based
anode materials used in most
Li-ion batteries manufactured today.
Electrolytes
Electrochemical cells function very
much as an interconnected system,
where the properties and characteristics
of each component affect all the
others. The higher voltages enabled by
new electrode materials require electrolytes
that can handle them. One
company active in this area is Enerize
Corp. CEO Elena Shembel says her
company has obtained a host of issued
and pending patents over the last sevFIGURE
3. A battery separator technology
from Dreamweaver International
combines micro- and nanoscale filaments
in a wet-laid non-woven manufccaturing
process
eral years surrounding solid inorganic
electrolytes and equipment to manufacture
solid-state batteries based on
this electrolyte and proprietary electrode
materials.
The company's solid electrolyte can
operate at ambient temperatures as
well as at high temperatures (up to
220°C). " Current liquid and polymer
electrolytes for Li-ion batteries are
only safely operable to 70°C, since the
organic material used in non-aqueous
electrolytes is flammable and easily
ignited, " Shembel explains, so existing
batteries with organic electrolytes
require elaborate, and therefore expensive,
systems to keep temperatures low.
This is one reason why Li-ion batteries
for electric vehicles remain so expensive.
" The solid inorganic electrolyte
operates safely at higher temperature,
Fike...your safety
net in pressure
relief protection.
reducing the requirements and costs of
a cooling system, " she says.
The company is developing materials
and technology for full-scale production
of solid electrolytes and electrodes, as
well as equipment for thin-film deposition
for battery production.
Battery separators
In addition to electrodes and electrolytes,
improving battery performance
and safety, while lowering cost, depends
also on the membrane separators
through which ions pass. One company
that has made considerable headway
in improving separators for large-format
batteries is Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver's Brian Morin says
that although the current polyethylene
(PE) and polypropylene (PP)
battery membrane-separator technolYou
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Chemical Engineering October 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering October 2013
