California based company Amprius just announced it has already been able to manufacture the first batch of what it claims are the lithium battery cells with the "highest energy density available today". The use of its own silicon nanowire anode technology resulted in cells capable of storing 73% more energy than Tesla Model 3 cells and occupying 37% less volume.

The new Amprius cells represent a significant advance in this field, both in terms of specific energy and energy density, since they claim they are capable of reaching 450 Wh/kg and 1,150 Wh/l. According to the company, these are the cells it has just delivered, in an unspecified number, to "an aerospace industry leader," giving it bragging rights for offering "the highest energy density cells available in the industry" as of today.

This impressive performance is due to its silicon nanowire anode technology, as per their explanation, when a lithium-ion battery is charged, an electron is removed from each lithium atom on the cathode by moving to the anode through external wiring, since electrons cannot pass through the electrolyte or the separator that is placed between the electrodes. Its negative charge draws positively charged lithium ions through the electrolyte and separator, where each finds an electron and embeds itself in a lattice at the anode, that is usually made of graphite.

Amprius has replaced that graphite network-lattice with silicon nanowires. Silicon can store about 10 times more lithium than graphite, but it tends to swell and crack, drastically reducing cell life. But when the silicon is transformed into porous nanowires, arranged like a kind of forest of longer wires with shorter wires in between, the silicon is able to tolerate the swelling and can better resist cracking. This extends the useful life of the cell to such an extent that silicon anodes can become a competitive technology.

Silicon nanowires are rooted directly into the anode substrate, so the conductivity is high. Lifespan is "excellent" and "continually improving" according to the company, though Amprius doesn't specify a number of charge/discharge cycles or degradation over time. Another advantage they mention is the fact that this is the only part of the battery that is different from conventional lithium batteries, so the rest can be produced using existing manufacturing methods, components and processes.

Source: Re-posted and Summarized from Nicolas Caballero at torquenews.

My Take: This sounds great. The only question that remains is, can they make them at scale, quickly and cheaply enough?
 

California based company Amprius just announced it has already been able to manufacture the first batch of what it claims are the lithium battery cells with the "highest energy density available today". The use of its own silicon nanowire anode technology resulted in cells capable of storing 73% more energy than Tesla Model 3 cells and occupying 37% less volume.

The new Amprius cells represent a significant advance in this field, both in terms of specific energy and energy density, since they claim they are capable of reaching 450 Wh/kg and 1,150 Wh/l. According to the company, these are the cells it has just delivered, in an unspecified number, to "an aerospace industry leader," giving it bragging rights for offering "the highest energy density cells available in the industry" as of today.

This impressive performance is due to its silicon nanowire anode technology, as per their explanation, when a lithium-ion battery is charged, an electron is removed from each lithium atom on the cathode by moving to the anode through external wiring, since electrons cannot pass through the electrolyte or the separator that is placed between the electrodes. Its negative charge draws positively charged lithium ions through the electrolyte and separator, where each finds an electron and embeds itself in a lattice at the anode, that is usually made of graphite.

Amprius has replaced that graphite network-lattice with silicon nanowires. Silicon can store about 10 times more lithium than graphite, but it tends to swell and crack, drastically reducing cell life. But when the silicon is transformed into porous nanowires, arranged like a kind of forest of longer wires with shorter wires in between, the silicon is able to tolerate the swelling and can better resist cracking. This extends the useful life of the cell to such an extent that silicon anodes can become a competitive technology.

Silicon nanowires are rooted directly into the anode substrate, so the conductivity is high. Lifespan is "excellent" and "continually improving" according to the company, though Amprius doesn't specify a number of charge/discharge cycles or degradation over time. Another advantage they mention is the fact that this is the only part of the battery that is different from conventional lithium batteries, so the rest can be produced using existing manufacturing methods, components and processes.

Source: Re-posted and Summarized from Nicolas Caballero at torquenews.

My Take: This sounds great. The only question that remains is, can they make them at scale, quickly and cheaply enough?