Altech Batteries boosts lithium-ion capacity by 55% with silumina anodes technology

Altech Batteries (ASX: ATC) has achieved a breakthrough in developing improved battery capacity with its unique Silumina anodes material technology.

Blending alumina-coated silicon particles (10%) with battery-grade graphite to create a composite graphite/silicon anode for the lithium-ion battery electrode, the company has achieved an average 55% surge in lithium battery anode energy capacity.

Chief executive officer Iggy Tan said the innovative proprietary technology breakthrough has seen Altech improve on its previous 30% energy increase.

Overcoming challenges

“We are thrilled with the significant progress we have made in overcoming the critical challenges associated with using silicon in lithium-ion battery anodes,” Mr Tan said.

“Our breakthrough technology represents a major step forward in unlocking the full potential of silicon in lithium-ion batteries and we believe it has the potential to revolutionise the battery industry.”

“We are currently commissioning a pilot plant to further scale up our technology and bring it to market.”

Energy retention

Altech’s research and development (R&D) team – led by Dr Jingyuan Liu – undertook a series of tests in which the company’s lithium-ion battery anode material exhibited an average energy retention capacity of approximately 500 milliampere-hours per gram (mAh/g), a significant improvement on the average of approximately 320mAh/g for a standard lithium-ion battery anode.

Importantly, the Altech batteries demonstrated good stability and cycling performance, indicating that the technology is highly promising.

Mr Tan believes Altech’s technology has demonstrated that silicon particles are able to be modified to resolve the capacity fading caused by both the swelling and first-cycle capacity loss problems.

‘Silicon barrier’

The new anode technology breakthrough follows on from Altech’s previous success in overcoming the “silicon barrier” that has held back progress in advancing battery technology.

The company has manufactured and evaluated a range of lithium-ion battery anode materials that exhibit a retention capacity approximately 30% higher than standard lithium-ion battery anode materials.

Since then, Altech’s R&D laboratory in Perth has been striving to further enhance the technology beyond this initial success.

Unresolved impediments

By applying spherification of the silicon particles – allowing the distribution of alumina-coated silicon in graphite voids, which minimises the electrode layer damage due to expansion – Altech has been able to substantially overcome previously unresolved impediments associated with using silicon in lithium-ion battery anodes.

The company is fast-tracking the market entry of its patented technology and has constructed a pilot plant adjacent to the proposed project site to enable the qualification process for its Silumina anodes product.

After successfully completing the construction of the pilot plant, the company is now in the process of hot-commissioning.