A Solid Future For Batteries At IDTechEx’s Energy Storage Innovations USA 2016 Show IDTechEx

At IDTechEx we believe that the future of the energy, mobility,
electronics, and communications industry will be strongly shaped by the
development of one key enabling technology, that is, energy storage. At the
historical tipping point of structural change in these sectors there has never
been a better time for a dedicated forum on energy storage as key enabling
technology.

Therefore, IDTechEx Show USA 2016 is pleased to announce the
launch of our new Energy Storage Innovations USA 2016 co-located conference
which will take place on the 16th-17th of November in Santa Clara California. Energy
Storage Innovations (ESI) USA 2016 (www.IDTechEx.com/EnergyStorageInnovations) is a dedicated forum that responds to
the urgent need of a meeting place of discussion on the disruptive future of
energy storage solutions, including advanced and post-Lithium-ion technologies,
new form factors, and their commercialization in traditional and emerging
applications.

IDTechEx Show! USA 2016
 

The IDTechEx Show 2016 with its co-located conferences on
Electric Vehicles (EVs Everything is Changing USA 2016), Internet of Things
Applications USA 2016, Energy Harvesting USA 2016 and Wearable Electronics USA
2016, is the perfect setting for an event on energy storage innovations and
their role in the industries that will shape the 21st century.

Why Now?
 

In 2016, Li-ion batteries (LIB) celebrated their silver jubilee,
i.e. they have been on the market, virtually unchanged, for the last 25 years.
While this anniversary marks and underscores their worldwide success and
diffusion in consumer electronics devices and, more recently, electric
vehicles, the underlying technology begins to show its limitations in terms of
safety, performance, form factor, and cost.

The Holy Grail of Batteries
 

The current battle for the leadership of Li-ion manufacturing
between Europe, the US, and Asia is currently being dominated by the latter,
with Japan and South Korea at the forefront of technology development and China
as both the main producer and the owner of several strategic raw materials
(e.g. graphite and rare earth metals for EV motors). Whichever country will capture the
value of solid-state batteries, will also have the leadership in the
post-Li-ion era.

The search for a “Holy
Grail” of batteries is stronger
than ever, with public and military bodies in the US and Europe funding both
basic and applied research, while Asian companies (Japan & South Korea)
have the lion’s share in intellectual property (IP) and manufacturing
capability, as well as stakes in some of the most dynamic battery start-ups.

Solid-state batteries have the potential to unhinge this
equilibrium and lead to a new era of battery manufacturing. At the core of this
technology lies the replacement of the conventional organic carbonate
electrolyte + polyolefin separator with a ceramic or polymeric material, that
has the capability of both physically separating the anode from the cathode and
of conducting lithium ions. While research on this topic has covered the span
of several decades and the first example of primary Li-ion battery was in fact
a solid-state battery (the lithium iodine battery used in pacemakers), this
class of electrolytes has always lacked the high power capabilities that its
liquid counterpart could provide. In recent years, several noteworthy
discoveries have been made, including this year’s discovery of a solid-state
electrolyte based on sulphur and chlorine that has a higher conductivity than
LP30, the conventional liquid mixture employed in state-of-the-art Li-ion
cells.

How Do We Harness The Strengths?
 

Solid-state ionic conductors can be divided into inorganic and
organic (i.e. polymer) electrolytes. Inorganic electrolytes benefit from high
thermal tolerance, a transport number corresponding to unity, no leakage in
case of cell rupture, as well as the possibility to prevent internal short
circuits. Additionally, solid-state electrolytes enable the fabrication of
Li-ion cells with a bipolar plate design, which can result in a significant
increase in volumetric energy density. Many large companies and dynamic
start-ups are working on how to harness these strengths and limit some
potential issues like interfacial stability and ease of scale-up, with the
ultimate goal of using solid-state batteries in the EV sector. Polymer-based
electrolytes, on the other hand, are a more mature technology that has already
entered the market, but which also faces some exciting innovation thanks to new
materials being developed.

Join Us in Santa Clara, Nov 16-17
 

This year at Energy Storage Innovations USA 2016, IDTechEx is
pleased to bring an excellent line-up of companies working on solid-state and
polymer batteries that will present their latest developments on products and
technologies for many disparate applications, from drones (Solidenergy), to the
Internet of Things (Ilika), to military applications (Polyplus) to electric
vehicles (Solid Power).

Solidenergy is a
Boston-based start-up that has spun out of MIT. The company has developed an
“anodeless” lithium metal battery that contains a quasi-ionic liquid
electrolyte and an anode protective layer instead of the conventional separator
+ liquid electrolyte combination. This combination allows for an increase in
energy density as well as added safety. Now about to launch their battery
technology in drones, Solidenergy also wants to enter other markets like
consumer electronics and ultimately electric vehicles and thus make their
technology ubiquitous. With strong partners like A123 Systems, Solidenergy has learnt from their failure and has
recently moved to a new facility to start small-scale production.

Ilika is the
poster child of thin film battery technology. Created from an idea developed at
the University of Southampton, they have developed high throughput techniques to
accelerate the development of new materials for energy and electronic
applications. The company has collaborated with Toyota Motors in the
development of solid-state batteries and share intellectual property, howeverIlika has also developed its own solid-state
battery for wireless sensor networks, energy harvesting and wearable
electronics.

Polyplus, a US company led by Dr Steve Visco, started doing research on
solid-state batteries in the 90’s and is now reaping its first achievements
thanks to the deployment of its lithium-seawater battery in submarines used by
the US Navy. The firm also recently reported the development of a new type of
solid electrolyte that is easy to scale unlike most solid-state electrolytes,
and which can deliver significant improvements in both safety and performance.

Solid Power, based in Boulder, CO, has the ambitious target of
deploying its all-solid-state batteries in electric vehicles. The company is
working on a 350 Wh/kg (750 Wh/L) battery that can operate at room
temperature, but is actively targeting the aerospace, military, and oil &
gas sectors too. Their material can be processed in a dry room with standard
roll-to-roll, slurry based manufacturing equipment. With strong competitors
from the automotive sector, the company-s high risk, high gain bet can
potentially disrupt the electric mobility sector by finally unleashing long
range electric vehicles at an affordable price.

The full speaker line-up is now available at: www.IDTechEx.com/energy-storage-usa/show/en/speakers.