BioSolar, Inc., a developer of breakthrough energy storage technology and materials, today elaborated on its recently announced strategic direction for development that the Company believes will lead to a breakthrough high capacity silicon anode technology.
While graphite is currently the most widely used anode material, silicon (Si) represents one of the more promising anode materials considered for next generation, high energy and high power lithium ion batteries. Silicon has attracted significant attention because of its natural abundance, non-toxicity, and very high theoretical specific capacity of nearly 4200 mAh/g — about ten times more capacity than conventional graphite anodes. According to Greentech Media, companies including Amprius, Enevate, Enovix, Envia Systems and Leyden Energy (taken over by A123 Systems in 2014) have turned their focus to developing Si anode-based lithium-ion batteries.
Although there are many positives to silicon-based battery technologies, Si anodes suffer from large capacity fading and tremendous volume changes during lithium-ion charge-discharge cycling. These strains are due primarily to the huge volume changes that actually pulverize the silicon material and eventually lead to electrode shattering and delamination, which adversely affect the battery performance and cycle life.
While there have been many attempts over the years to make commercial use of silicon for battery anodes, all of the known approaches to date have their own fundamental obstacles that still prevent them from taking advantage of silicon's full theoretical capacity. BioSolar intends to overcome these technology barriers by focusing on designing Si-alloy materials and developing a unique and highly effective material processing solutions to take maximum advantage of silicon's full capacity potential. The Company believes that in doing so it can significantly impact the cost of the battery, thereby enhancing overall energy storage efficiency.
"The challenges in commercializing silicon battery technologies are well chronicled, as most attempts have been based on incremental progress, and only on a small-scale," said Dr. David Lee, CEO of BioSolar. "We believe that by applying silicon's vast potential to the material used and processing solutions within the development of the battery, that we can significantly impact not only capacity, but the cost of the battery, both of which we believe will serve multiple industries seeking a commercially viable solution."
