Posi Energy has demonstrated a new lithium-silicon battery architecture that potentially could double the energy density of batteries without forming any lithium dendrites.
The lithium-ion battery architecture would also be able to maintain capacity after more than 300 cycles and halving the required anode weight and volume.
The silicon-based anode acts as a host for lithium but the expansion and contraction problems with traditional silicon anodes during charge/discharge cycles are avoided, Posi said. The lithium-silicon anode has the potential of delivering gravimetric and volumetric energy densities of greater than 600 Wh/kg and 1,200 Wh/L, respectively at the cell level without forming any lithium dendrites.
Posi said the lithium-ion cell architecture is compatible with current battery manufacturing infrastructure and can be integrated into industry-standard cells as well as meet the cell level cost target of below $100 Wh/kg.
The company has already demonstrated working pouch-cell prototypes with a capacity fade of less than 0.04% per cycle over 300 cycles with a current density as high as 6 mAh/cm2 by using above industry standard cathode loading.
