Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SEATBELT (SOLID-STATE LITHIUM METAL BATTERY WITH IN SITU HYBRID ELECTROLYTE)
Reporting period: 2022-07-01 to 2023-12-31
The SEATBELT (Solid-state lithium metal battery with in situ hybrid electrolyte) project will help to pave the road towards a cost-effective, robust all-solid-state lithium battery comprising sustainable materials by 2026. During the project a low cost battery cell will be safe-by-design comprising sustainable and recyclable materials, reaching high energy densities and long cyclability. In this context, SEATBELT intends to achieve a first technological milestone of developing a battery cell (TRL5) meeting the needs of Electric Vehicle (EV) and stationary applications. Indeed, the project aims to develop a new generation of high-performance, safe materials for these batteries, in order to meet the European criteria for decarbonization, sustainability, affordability and self-sufficiency in production.
During the first 18 months of the project, a complete set of eco-design criteria were established to guide the consortium towards the selection of the most interesting materials that will compose the battery in term of sustainability, limitation of critical raw materials, safety, recycling, and potential cost from the manufacturing process of the materials. In addition, several case scenarios were defined by the industrial partners to analyze different technico-economic targets to guide the consortium partners toward the most realistic and challenging cell device. The materials and cell design is also guide by the latest EU regulation and recycling process from individual materials to the cell level.
In term of technical activities, a dedicated work was performed to develop a new generation of solid-state hybrid electrolyte comprising an organic and inorganic phases. Both phases ar developed at lab-scale prior being upscaled in order to obtain a sustainable biopolymer acting as organic phase compatible with the selected halide inorganic phase. During the first months of the project, the nature of the polymer and inorganic were varied to define a good combination of materials prior being attempting in the form of an hybrid mixture. The electrolyte acting as battery separator, another strong part was devoted to the design of a dedicated Li metal electrode. In this regards the thickness and microstructure of the Li was investigated as well as its elaboration process to minimize the interfacial contact resistance, ensure homogeneous Li deposits, and use an interlayer to make compatible the hybrid electrolyte. For the cathode side, the main task was to synthesize in different ways families of cathode materials without critical materials to be later on implemented in a complete electrode comprising the hybrid-electrolyte. Moreover, a benchmark of cathode current collector was done to design a protective layer deposited on top of the current collector to ensure low contact and high corrosion resistances.
As complementary activity to the design and characterization of the battery materials, safety analysis was initiated to help to refine the selection of the most suitable material along with the development of an in situ electrochemical cell adapted to imaging technique. Similarly, recycling of each project materials was done to assess on the complete recycling path to reach the goal set by EU in term of recycled material proportion within a battery cell.
Overall, the work performed during the first 18 months of the project open the door to a new generation of solid-state lithium battery device with many technical achievements that needs to be consolidated to move toward a practical and reliable battery cell.
In term of technical activities, a dedicated work was performed to develop a new generation of solid-state hybrid electrolyte comprising an organic and inorganic phases. Both phases ar developed at lab-scale prior being upscaled in order to obtain a sustainable biopolymer acting as organic phase compatible with the selected halide inorganic phase. During the first months of the project, the nature of the polymer and inorganic were varied to define a good combination of materials prior being attempting in the form of an hybrid mixture. The electrolyte acting as battery separator, another strong part was devoted to the design of a dedicated Li metal electrode. In this regards the thickness and microstructure of the Li was investigated as well as its elaboration process to minimize the interfacial contact resistance, ensure homogeneous Li deposits, and use an interlayer to make compatible the hybrid electrolyte. For the cathode side, the main task was to synthesize in different ways families of cathode materials without critical materials to be later on implemented in a complete electrode comprising the hybrid-electrolyte. Moreover, a benchmark of cathode current collector was done to design a protective layer deposited on top of the current collector to ensure low contact and high corrosion resistances.
As complementary activity to the design and characterization of the battery materials, safety analysis was initiated to help to refine the selection of the most suitable material along with the development of an in situ electrochemical cell adapted to imaging technique. Similarly, recycling of each project materials was done to assess on the complete recycling path to reach the goal set by EU in term of recycled material proportion within a battery cell.
Overall, the work performed during the first 18 months of the project open the door to a new generation of solid-state lithium battery device with many technical achievements that needs to be consolidated to move toward a practical and reliable battery cell.
So far the key results obtained during the project are related to the technical aspects with the development of different generations of battery materials and processes. Further research and development is needed to obtain a complete hybrid electrolyte suitable for the extrusion process at pilot-scale. Initial lab-scale results are promising and uptake from the industrial partners are forecast. For the Li anode, the process is well established and mastered which permit to envision Li metal batteries with higher energy density. For the cathode electrode, the concept of Al curent collector with low thickness has been proven at lab-scale and further results at pilot-scales are needed to confirm the results which directly impact favorably the energy density of the device. All other results need more consolidation prior being consider as going beyond the state of the art so additional works are in progress.