High energy batteries at a low cost – that’s the aim of a new project sponsored by the European Commission and headed by TU Delft.
Research institutes, universities and the battery and automotive industry across eight European countries will be involved in developing a new lithium-ion cell for automotive traction that has an energy density of at least 200Wh/kg, a low cost and improved safety.
Proposals include shifting from carbon to higher capacity silicon-based anodes; to use novel electrolyte salts; and to move from cobalt-based to iron and/or manganese/nickel-based cathodes.
Known as the EuroLiion project, it will run for four years and has a budget of €5.5million, €4million of which is contributed by the European Commission.
Under their current plans, the team will start research and development at the silicon anode side which requires a new electrode formulation with respect to binder, electrolyte salt and composition. By changing the formulation at the anode and electrolyte, there is a change in the cathode materials and a series of novel and more established systems will be investigated.
The outcome, it is hoped, will be a newly developed cell with a newly formulated si-negative electrode, newly designed low cost salts and modified positive electrodes.
