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Swiss Clean Battery is going to start commercial production in Switzerland of its pure solid-state batteries based on a shielded electrolyte made up of a solid ion conductor, which helps maintain internal resistance and capacity.
Swiss Clean Battery (SCB) AG announced this week that it will build a gigafactory to produce pure solid-state batteries at its headquarters in Teufen, Switzerland.
"With output to be scaled from 1.2 GWh to 7.6 GWh, SCB AG will serve both the Swiss domestic and international markets with sustainable storage batteries from 2024," the company said. “In the first production phase of 1.2 GWH, SCB AG anticipates sales of CHF 318 million ($340 million). To this end, an investment volume of CHF 246 million is planned for the machinery. In this first phase, SCB AG employs 181 people. A production area of ??20,000 m2 will be built to manufacture 7.2 million batteries per year.
Chief Operating Officer Thomas Lützenrath said the batteries will have several competitive advantages compared to conventional lithium-ion storage.
“Conventional lithium-ion batteries age because a coating layer forms on their anodes through charging and discharging. It grows over time and with each use, even faster the more intensively the battery is used. This top layer growth consumes capacity and increases internal resistance, and battery performance decreases,” he told pv magazine .
By contrast, in pure solid-state batteries a very thin top layer forms during the first charge, Lützenrath said.
"Afterwards, it doesnt grow anymore," he explained. “Using our shielded electrolyte made from a solid ion conductor, the internal resistance and capacitance will remain nearly constant throughout the service life. It doesnt matter how much the battery is used."
Battery technology does not require any critical raw materials, such as cobalt or gold.
"As a result of this and the extreme service life, the environmental balance can be improved by more than half compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries," explained Lützenrath. “The solid-state batterys predecessor technology - still liquid-based - has already completed more than 50,000 charge cycles in practical use in the US in a battery storage system to buffer the power grid. This predecessor liquid technology has already been produced on an industrial scale.”
The core of the storage technology is the solid ion conductor, which replaces conventional liquid electrolytes.
“A central technical problem is getting the fixed ionic conductor of the battery cells to be in stable connection with the electrodes. After more than 30 years of basic research, this problem has now been solved," said Lützenrath.
He said many research projects are based on a modular design, meaning individual parts are combined outside the cell and inserted into the casing, with glitches occurring during the transition of ions at material boundaries. , between the anode, the solid ion conductor and the cathode.
"Our solid-state battery is different, as the fixed ion conductor is formed in the battery cell itself, similar to a multi-component adhesive, like a two-component glue," said Lützenrath, without providing further technical details. .
SCB said its market value currently stands at 13 billion francs and it will launch an initial public offering on the Zurich stock exchange in October.
“In the final phase, SCB AG will produce 7.6 GWH, with an investment of CHF 775 million and a turnover of more than CHF 2 billion. For this, approximately 100,000 m2 of production area will be built. In this expansion phase, SCB AG will produce around 48 million batteries per year with 1,061 employees. At that time, the company will be worth 8.6 billion Swiss francs," the company said.
Solid -state batteries may be the most promising of the many avenues researchers are pursuing to improve current battery energy storage technologies. And many in the industry are optimistic that this approach will ultimately produce a "game changer" in battery technology, greatly improving the capacity, lifespan and safety of lithium-ion batteries.
Switching from the current generation of liquid/gel electrolytes to a solid material could eliminate any risk of battery fire, as well as improve the energy-to-weight ratio and eliminate the additional "energy-redundant" packaging materials required to keep a liquid , among several other advantages.
But the key development is that the solid electrolyte would allow the use of a lithium-metal anode, with a much higher energy density than the graphite commonly used today. Although lithium-metal integration with liquid or semi-solid electrolytes is being investigated, many consider the solid-state approach to be the best. |
