Company Simplifies Li-ion Batteries for Fast Production

The American company 24M claims to be able to significantly accelerate the production of lithium-ion batteries and reduce costs by simplifying the batteries. The company uses its semi-solid thick electrode for this and scraps 80 percent of the inactive material.

A conventional lithium-ion battery contains all kinds of layers of metal and plastic in the housing of the cell that are expensive and cause waste, claims 24M. With its semi-solid thick electrode, 80 percent of those inactive materials could be eliminated. Partly because of this, the content of active lithium ion could increase by a factor of five, according to the claim.

Because the design of the battery has been simplified, production would no longer take days, as with conventional Li-ion batteries, but hours. “Semi-solid lithium-ion requires no bonding, drying or recovery time, eliminating entire steps in the manufacturing process,” said 24M. Even in small-batch production, making lithium-ion batteries would be cost-effective, and setting up a production line could cost one-tenth the current cost of a Li-ion line.

To simplify, 24M reduced the number of layers in a cell’s housing from 24 to 5. In addition, the company injects a battery’s electrolyte into a cell at an early stage rather than at later stages. This significantly shortens the drying time. The company makes the electrode four times thicker than normal, half a millimeter, which increases the energy density. The first production machines should be available in two years.