Solid-state batteries to the rescue – a better, longer-lasting class of Li-ion electrolytes?

Solid-state
batteries to the rescue – a better, longer-lasting class of Li-ion
electrolytes?

IDTechEx

Cambridge, UK

Solid-state batteries to the rescue – a better, longer-lasting
class of Li-ion electrolytes?

By Dr Lorenzo Grande, Technology Analyst, IDTechEx

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 and, more recently, electric vehicles (EV),
the underlying technology begins to show its limitations in terms of safety,
performance, form factor, and cost.

In the newly released report by IDTechEx Research, titled Solid-Stateand Polymer Batteries 2017-2027: Technology, Markets, Forecastswe cover the solid-state electrolyte
industry by giving a 10-year forecast through 2027 in terms of numbers of
devices sold, capacity production and market size, predicted to reach over $7B
by 2027.

The battery trilemma. Image source: Solid-State and Polymer Batteries
2017-2027: Technology, Markets, Forecasts (www.IDTechEx.com/ssb)

The first lithium-based solid-state battery was the
lithium-iodine battery, where a sheet of lithium metal is placed in contact
with solid iodine. These primary batteries were commercialized in the early
70’s to power pacemaker devices, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that
sulphide-based materials, belonging to the thio-LISICON
family, finally demonstrated that solid-state batteries can be made
rechargeable and possibly outperform their liquid counterparts.

Recently ARPA-E programme director Paul Albertus announced the
US-backed “Ionics” initiative, a three-legged roadmap to support R&D on
solid-state batteries. With a total investment of $37M, Ionics is poised to
become the foundry of US-labelled next generation batteries, because
solid-state batteries can enable smaller, safer, and better energy storage
devices. This can be achieved by leveraging on the remarkable properties of the
solid materials that have been developed over the last years, like garnets, thio-LISICONs, and perovskites.

Companies like Ford Motor, Toyota, Samsung, and Toshiba are
already actively working on solid electrolytes, while many hail the
technological achievements of French company Bolloré as an initial step on rechargeable
lithium metal polymer batteries. At the same time, consumers demand better,
long-lasting batteries that will not catch fire in their hands like the Samsung
Galaxy Note 7, and solid-state electrolytes have the potential to solve those
issues.

These and other factors, including the surge in popularity of electric
cars, wearable devices and drones, are pushing the battery industry towards
solid-state electrolytes. Solid-state
batteries can be made thinner, flexible, and contain more energy per unit
weight than conventional Li-ion.

The IDTechEx Research report covers both inorganic solid
electrolytes and polymer electrolytes, with an analysis of where these two
chemistries will most likely find applications. An analysis on thio-LISICONs and the other 7 solid
electrolyte chemistries (garnet, halides, perovskites, argyrodites, LiPON, hydrides, NASICON-like) and
polymer electrolytes is given. Additionally, comparisons are made between
liquid-based Li-ion batteries and solid-based batteries, as well as between
thin film and bulk solid-state batteries.

For more see www.IDTechEx.com/ssb.