Scientists at Harvard University have developed a new solid-state lithium-metal battery for electric vehicles that promises to be fully charged in three minutes and last for 20 years.

A related paper was recently published in the journal Nature. Now, startup Adden Energy has announced that it has received an exclusive technology license from Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development to advance the commercialization of the technology, with the goal of shrinking the battery into a palm-sized “pouch battery” with components encapsulated in aluminum in the coating film.

Image source: "Daily Mail" website

Harvard has granted Adden Energy an exclusive license to develop solid-state lithium metal batteries. The startup aims to scale the battery to palm-sized "pouch cells" -- whose components are encapsulated in an aluminum-coated film. The battery uses lithium in pure metal form, rather than lithium-ion, which is currently used in electric vehicle batteries on the market.

Meanwhile, "solid state" refers to the use of solid electrodes and solid electrolytes, rather than the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion batteries.

In the lab, the team's prototype battery was able to charge as fast as 3 minutes and be cycled more than 10,000 times over its lifetime. Currently, even the best-in-class batteries have only 2,000-3,000 charge cycles, and the technology could be a "game changer," the researchers said.

The novel and sophisticated design of this new battery is inspired by the classic English sandwich. Compared with traditional lithium-ion batteries, lithium metal batteries can store much more energy in the same volume, while charging time is much less than traditional lithium-ion batteries.

But they readily form "dendrites" -- tiny, rigid tree-like structures. Dendrites grow in the cell, and the needle-like protrusions are called dendrites. These structures grow into the electrolyte like roots and pierce the barrier separating the anode and cathode, potentially causing the battery to catch fire.

The sandwich-like multilayer structure prevents dendrite formation. If you imagine the battery as a sandwich, first a layer of bread (lithium metal anode), then lettuce (graphite coating), then a layer of tomatoes (first electrolyte) and a layer of bacon (second electrolyte), At the end is another layer of tomatoes and the last piece of bread (cathode). In this design, dendrites can grow through the graphite and the first electrolyte, but stop when they reach the second electrolyte.

Image source: "Daily Mail" website

In other words, dendrites grew in "lettuce" and "tomato" but stopped at "bacon". The "bacon" barrier prevents dendrites from passing through and shorting out the cell, preventing failure.

Additionally, the battery is self-healing, meaning its chemistry allows it to backfill pores created by dendrites.

The startup says the rapid development of clean energy storage technologies is critical to combating climate change. Global vehicle electrification alone is estimated to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 16%, and this "new battery model" is seen as key to achieving this goal.

Of course, "traditional" solid-state battery technology is also advancing, and according to a recent study by Nikkei, Toyota is by far the dominant holder of solid-state battery patents. Other Japanese companies also top the list of patent holdings in this area.

Toyota already has 1,331 known patents. Panasonic came in second with 445 patents, and another Japanese company, Idemitsu Kosan, came in third with 272 patents. All told, Japanese companies occupy six of the top ten.

Solid-state batteries for electric vehicles are still in the prototype stage, but expectations are greater due to their longer range, faster charging times, and reduced risk of fire.

Toyota has been researching solid-state batteries since the 1990s and now holds patents on a wide range of applications, including battery structures, materials and manufacturing processes. In 2020, automakers showed prototype cars that run on solid-state batteries. In the same year, Toyota and Panasonic established a joint venture to jointly develop solid-state battery technology.

Toyota said it plans to launch a hybrid vehicle with solid-state batteries in 2025. Nissan and Honda plan to launch solid-state electric vehicles in the second half of the next decade. Volkswagen has announced plans to introduce models with solid-state batteries.

SES Power believes that ordinary lithium batteries will not be withdrawn from the market because of these emerging battery technologies, because ordinary lithium batteries are more flexible and lower cost. Let us recall that when lithium batteries are gradually mature, nickel-metal hydride batteries and lead-acid batteries are considered to be outdated technologies and will be completely eliminated by lithium batteries. In fact, they have their own market fields and division of labor.

We often make lithium battery energy storage systems for customers, such as wall-mounted home energy storage systems 48V100Ah, 48V200Ah, stacked home energy storage systems (5KWh per module, up to 15 modules stacked), lead-acid replacement products (lithium iron phosphate battery) 12V100Ah, 12V200Ah, 24V100Ah), UPS high-voltage lithium battery system (up to 860V), 3Kw~20Kw off-grid, grid-connected, island-type lithium battery energy storage system, backup battery system (standard 19 inches), etc.

These products are quite sensitive to finished products, which means that higher-performance solid-state battery technology will not be applied in energy storage scenarios for the first time.