Future Materials Battery Lab
The battery lab’s overarching priority is to study how Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries with various chemical compositions behave under different conditions.
A Li-ion battery consists of two electrodes, an anode and a cathode, an electrolyte and a separator separating the electrodes from each other. Li-ion batteries are a rechargeable type of battery where Li-ions move from the negative electrode (the anode) towards the positive electrode (the cathode) when discharging and the opposite direction during charging. The Li-ions move in an electrolyte where the main component is a Li-rich salt.
The battery lab can test different kind of battery cells; like small coin cells, a bit larger pouch cells and in the future cylindrical cells. The cells are placed in a battery testing device where the cells´ “battery capacity”, mAh/g, is measured. The maximum number of cycles or how long a cell withstands charging and discharging while maintaining storage capacity, is also measured.
Available equipment
- Milling and mixer equipment
- Shaper mills
- Dry and wet mixers (for composite materials)
- Jet mills
- Planetary ball mills
- Coating machine (Electrode Coating)
- Roll Press Machine (calendering)
- Vacuum Drying oven
- Disc cutter (Electrode Punching)
- Glove box
- Electrolyte injection
- Sealing Machine (Hydraulic sealing)
- Battery Tester (Battery Analyzer)
Examples of services
- Battery materials testing
- Electrode formulation and coating
- Slurry viscosity
- Wettability
- Orientation
- Battery Cell testing
- Capacity, first cycle efficiency, rate capability, cycling
- Half coin cells
- Full coin cells
- Pouch cells
- 3 electrode cells
- Materials properties
- Tap density
- Expansion (dilatometer, swell testing of silicon anodes)
Elkem also has extensive, complementary characterisation capabilities such as XRD, XRF, FEG-SEM, Particle size and shape, BET, AAS, ICP-MS. The battery lab is located close to Elkem Pilot Plant, an industrial R&D center with core competence in metallurgical high-temperature processes. The combination of a Battery Lab, Pilot Plant facilities and characterisation capabilities makes Elkem Technology/Future Materials well equipped for lab. scale, bench scale and pilot scale experiments.