Batteries are considered a key enabling technology to achieve climate neutrality and the ongoing electrification of society expands the use of batteries into new markets, like heavy-duty and marine electromobility and grid storage of renewable energy. However – new or improved battery solutions are needed. Buses, trains, ferries and grid storage need high-power batteries which are robust, safe, charge fast and can perform at both high and low temperatures.
Titanium dioxide (titania) is a material able to provide just this. When titania is used as an anode material in Li-ion batteries, charging times below 10 minutes, increased safety and very low capacity losses even at -20°C are achievable. However - titania is still not commercialised for use in batteries, and that is what Tiotech works to achieve.
TioTech`s speciality is titania and the production of different variants of the material. In the TASER-project, we have optimised our product (TitanA) for use in batteries. Our goal is to provide a product which can be efficiently implemented in existing battery production lines. We have therefore, in collaboration with battery experts at SINTEF, investigated which battery chemistries work best with our material and developed a recipe tailored to our product.
An important milestone reached during the course of the TASER-project is that we have produced batteries (1 and 5 Ah pouch cells) with TitanA both on SINTEF`s pilot line and on a commercial production line. The project has generated valuable results for TioTech and we have taken a significant step forward with the optimisation and integration of TitanA as anode material in industrially relevant battery types. The results from this project will contribute strongly to TioTechs success in commercialising TitanA and; hence, offer society a better and more sustainable battery solution.
Outcomes:
New business area for TioTech
New patent(s) for commercial production of titania and/or battery chemistries tailored to titania
New product (TitanA) which is key to fast market entry in the battery value chain
Optimised process for production of TitanA
Impact:
Accelerate the commercialisation of titania as anode material for Li-ion batteries
Accelerate the use of Li-ion batteries in applications in need of high-power and robust batteries
Enable further electrification of transportation, particularly in heavy-duty transportation and marine applications
Improved sustainability due to the prolonged lifetime of titania batteries
Reduced use of the critical raw material lithium
Building of a Norwegian battery ecosystem
The ongoing electrification of society expands the use of batteries into new markets, like heavy-duty and marine electromobility and grid storage of renewable energy. In order to meet the need for rapid electrification of these applications within the Paris climate accord, new or improved battery solutions giving high-power, fast-charging and robust batteries have to be developed.
Titania is a material pointed out to be able to do just this, with results demonstrating that charging times below 10 minutes, increased safety and very low capacity losses even at -20°C are achievable. However, titania anode materials are not yet a commercially available solution, mainly due to cost-ineffective production methods and low practically achieved capacities. Within this project, TioTech will leverage from the company`s extensive know-how about titania nanomaterials and its manufacturing to optimise a production process for a titania anode material suitable for processing in battery cell manufacturing. The material`s corresponding battery chemistry will be developed in collaboration with SINTEF, resulting in a titania drop-in solution for existing battery cell producers.