What is the battery of the future?

Batteries are part of our future — there’s no doubt about that. But the question is, which battery technology are we talking about?

Over the last decade, the scientific R&D as well as the engineering community was dominated by the race for ever more energy density, largely driven by people wanting to see extended mileage in cars and longer power supply for their laptops. But things have changed!

The high demand from various industries for (sustainable) batteries and the need for businesses to invest in clean energy offerings has altered and increased the demand.

Suddenly, pure energy density is not the key criterion anymore. Instead, it has shifted to: “Who does get their hands on a battery after all,” and how can we ensure it’s sustainably sourced? And by the way, what do we do with batteries when they are “dead”?

The R&D community has clearly understood this message and researchers around the globe have started working on the battery of the future and commercialization.

Goals for new batteries — where is the industry going?

When we look at batteries of the future, there is a balance between features and goals. In this article we will look at some of the main targets in place and what that might mean for us moving forward.

Therefore let’s establish what the key drivers for new battery technologies are, in order to pose serious competition to current Li-Ion technology:

• Improved energy density (i.e., increased energy storage per volume/weight)
• Safer, especially in terms of flammability
• Faster charging time
• Lower cost
• Sustainability and recyclability
• Smart and connected

There has already been a lot of development in each of these points and emerging batteries are looking to take it further. But the new kid on the block is really sustainability — it has emerged to be one of the main drivers and is challenging scientist and industrials alike.

Before we go into cell chemistry now, let’s look at some new approaches that could be a game-changer for the battery of the future.

Leveraging digital technology to discover new battery interfaces and materials

Finding materials that provide a new level of innovation in terms of energy density and power performance while still being stable and not bottlenecking the supply chain, is obviously one of the main challenges.

A new pathway leading researchers are taking, does not only rely on hard work in the lab but leverages digital technology like Artificial Intelligence. The Battery Interface Genome (BIG) — Materials Acceleration Platform (MAP), a European shared data infrastructure, does exactly that.

Using artificial intelligence, the database can take data across the battery development cycle and generate large volumes of analysis to shed more light on processes and materials related to battery materials and interfaces best positioned towards being the new battery of the future.

Shared data, coupled with innovative AI tools, can help accelerate our understanding of the battery development cycle and unearth new insights that could change the way the technology evolves.

The rise of smart batteries

Now it gets interesting. Making our batteries smart is a huge part of the technology’s future. When we talk about smartness, two key elements must be addressed.

• Developing sensors at the battery cell level to improve processes
• Introducing self-healing functionalities to improve battery cell life

Figure1: Overview of smart battery technologies by Vegge et al.

Let’s take each one separately. Sensor development, e.g., at the Fraunhofer Institute ISC, will essentially lead to the addition of embedded sensors in a battery, making it far more functional and efficient.

The sensors can monitor battery health and safety, thereby introducing a more innovative form of monitoring that can improve the battery life cycle. Sensors can span across different areas, including electrochemical sensors, acoustics, optic fibres, and more.

That is why there are many opportunities to develop batteries tailored to use and offer a better experience overall.

We’re likely to see both passive and active changes for self-healing functionalities to extend and improve battery lifespan. These functionalities can be triggered by an external source or serve as a continuous operation within battery cells to prevent degradation, hazardous situations, and more.

Combined with sensor technology, this is truly a battery of the future. In addition, batteries will likely be developed with autonomous features that improve safety and battery life in the long run.

Greater focus on sustainable manufacturability, recyclability, and price

While the earlier goals are all great, we also need to address the practical side of developments. And let’s be honest, we have closed our eyes, and nobody really wanted to see the true footprint of the battery supply chain. Discovery processes are now considering supply chains, manufacturing, and battery disposal earlier on.

Certification of the raw materials, banning toxic sourcing, and tagging the overall CO2 footprint are not making the life of battery manufacturers easier — but are an essential step towards a true, green battery.

Research is an important contributor here. Multi-disciplinary teams are constantly looking for new materials to exclude Cobalt or reduce the number of toxic ingredients in the electrolyte. All crucial developments to drive sustainability from a cell chemistry perspective. But that is only one side of the coin.

We can also see new forms of cleaner manufacturing and certified sourcing to drive sustainability along the value chain and tackle manufacturing shortages alike.

But responsibility doesn’t end here. We need to find ways to recycle the millions of batteries produced every year! Here we will see more sub-industries arise around comprehensive battery collection and recycling.

A good example is Umicore, where a lot of their research effort is going into innovative concepts to deliver battery-grade materials from recycling. Roland Berger just recently stated that new alternatives show promising results, such as hydrometallurgical processes wherein the metallic component and recycled metal solutions can be dissolved through leaching.

Figure 2: Recovery rates of precious battery materials with various recycling methods by Roland Berger.

Of course, in the end, it’s all about cost & price. What we have seen in the last decade is that battery prices dropped from over $1000/kWh to around $130/kWh on the pack and $100/kWh on the cell level for Volkswagen and Tesla, said the New York Times. Bloomberg New Energy Finance revealed that the $101/kWh price point is where EVs will be price competitive with internal combustion engines, with EV’s being one of the key drivers.

And that’s not the end. With the current pace of improvements on cell chemistry, engineering, and cell packaging, the community might attack the price point of $80/kWh for batteries in the near future. To achieve that, advanced cell chemistries are required.

Cell chemistry developments to keep on your radar

Finally, let’s talk about what we will see next in the market and take a look at some of the top contenders for the title:

2020–22 Next-generation Lithium-Ion batteries:

• Graphite-Silicon Anode / High-Nickel Cathode (NMC): This combination is the next step towards higher energy density, maximizing range, and offering fast charging capabilities. This will meet most of the performance demands of EV’s.
• Lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP): With China having turned into one of the main consumers of LFP-Batteries this cathode chemistry, not dependent on scarce and price-volatile materials, experiences a revival. Its Iron-based structure, makes LFP batteries simply much cheaper (e.g., CATL with $ 80kWh) than NMC or NCA.

2025 Sodium-Ion battery(Na-Ion): Despite having demonstrated only about half the energy density of Li-on, Na-Ion cells display a big advantage in terms of cost and availability of raw materials. This will drive the application in domestic batteries and large grid storage for renewable energy production or backup of e.g.: data centers.

2030 Solid-State battery (SSB): Solid electrolytes are non-flammable when heated, unlike their liquid counterparts thus having a huge safety advantage. Second, it permits the use of innovative, high-voltage high-capacity materials, such as metallic lithium itself, enabling denser, lighter batteries. Research is also claiming faster charging and improved shelf-life. However, many fundamental challenges, especially at the interface level, are yet to be solved.

2040+ Lithium-Sulfur battery(LiS): The revolutionary LiS technology diverges from all previously mentioned cell chemistries by offering a theoretical energy density up to 4x times higher than that of Li-ion batteries. The advantage of Li-S batteries is the use of lithium metal as anode and a very light active sulfur in the positive electrode. However, there is still a long way to go, and many hurdles left for future generations of researchers.

Takeaway

Summing it all up, the battery of the future is on its way — and it will be many. It won’t be ONE chemistry, but rather an assemblage of various technologies fit for purpose, small, large, powerful, or smart — depending on the depth of the pockets and the actual requirements.

Also, the constantly increasing demand for batteries will let us focus on the essentials again; the features really needed rather than flashy, idealistic dreams of hundreds of miles for a car that is actually only used to buy the groceries next door!

That being said, there is one feature the batteries of the future will all need to comply with. And that’s being truly sustainable alternatives — sourced responsibly, processed efficiently, and ready to be recycled at the end of their life.

www.Sphere Energy.eu

Author: Lukas Lutz