Graphene batteries: Introduction and Market News - Page 9

German chemicals company, Evonik, has invested an undisclosed sum in China-based battery specialist SuperC.

The Chinese company produces graphene materials for, among other applications, lithium-ion batteries. The materials are said to have the potential to solve key limitations of electric vehicles and accelerate the shift to climate-friendly mobility. 

Global Graphene Group (G3) announced that its subsidiary Honeycomb Battery is set to merge with a SPAC company (Nubia Brand International Corp.) in a deal worth $925 million. Nubia's current valuation is $700 million, and following the merger Honeycomb Battery will become a public company that trades at the NASDAQ (ticker: NUBI), with around $118 million USD in cash.

Honeycomb Battery developed several next-generation battery technologies, which include Li-Metal batteries, Li-S batteries, silicon anodes and graphene enhanced cathode materials. The company also developed a solid-state battery technology.

Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) has announced it has received full and final approval of all its graphene products from the Australian Industrial Chemicals Introduction Scheme (AICIS) of the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care under Assessment statement CA09624.

AICIS approval allows GMG to significantly increase the production and sale of GMG graphene-enhanced products including:

• Coatings: THERMAL-XR® and other industrial coatings as developed;
• Automotive Fluids: G® LUBRICANT, G® COOLANT and other automotive liquids as developed;
• Fuel: G® DIESEL ; and
• Batteries: including for GMG’s Graphene Aluminium Ion Battery.

Graphenano and the Institute of Molecular Science (ICMol) of the University of Valencia have developed a battery cell without current collectors or metal terminals, which uses graphene and carbon nanomaterials instead. The system enables the creation of safer, lighter and more efficient batteries for electric cars, aviation, stationary storage and more.

The scientists have succeeded in removing the copper, aluminium or steel sheets, the materials generally used in conventional batteries to evacuate the electric current generated. Simultaneously, the metallic tabs (current terminals), usually made of nickel or other metals, which are responsible for transferring the energy from the inside to the outside of the battery, have been eliminated. The replacement of these metals by graphene and other carbon nanomaterials significantly reduces the weight and volume of the devices. Furthermore, the team reported that tests have ascertained that this replacement increases the energy density by 30-60% and eliminates the risk of explosion or fire accidents on contact with air.

Talga Group has announced it has opened its new Battery Center of Excellence in Cambridge, UK. The center is a significant expansion of Talga’s UK R&D facilities, first launched in 2016.

Focusing on battery material innovations, development and characterization, the center is designed to complement Talga’s existing facilities in Sweden (Talnode®-C EV qualification production and battery
quality control labs) and Germany (processing technology scale-up and graphene production).

Project Arrow, a collaboration between nearly 60 different companies in Canada that is led by the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association (APMA), aims to develop an all-Canadian electric SUV. A few days ago, at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) event in Las Vegas, a fully operational prototype was unveiled.

Reports suggest that the Canadian government contributed CAD$5 million (over USD$3.7 million) toward the electric compact SUV’s development. Ontario pledged CAD$1.8 million (over USD$1.3 million) and Quebec said it would allocate CAD$1.4 million (over USD$1 million) over 18 months to small- and medium-sized businesses that make connected or autonomous zero-emission automotive components and systems, including those looking to get involved with Project Arrow.

The Enlit Europe 2022 energy conference recently took place, and the Graphene Flagship participated, showing some of the latest energy-related graphene projects. We took the chance to discuss graphene with some of the flagship researchers, and we also talked to Prof. Jari Kinaret, the director of the flagship project, to learn of how he summarizes the last 10 years now that the flagship project will soon end.

Q: We understand that the Graphene Flagship is attending Enlit Europe 2022, showing some new graphene R&D projects. We'll be happy to get an overview of what will be displayed at the event.

At Enlit Europe, the Graphene Flagship exhibited innovations from its Spearhead Projects, which are industry-led initiatives working to move materials from research labs towards commercial applications. Among these initiatives are:

• CircuitBreakers, led by ABB and developing first-of-their-kind grease-free, maintenance-free, low-voltage circuit breakers for fault protection in key parts of the electrical grid;
• GRAPES, led by Enel Green Power and working on combining silicon solar cells with perovskite solar cells, paving the way for low-cost, highly efficient photovoltaic energy, surpassing the limits of silicon based cells.

Researchers from Australia's Monash University and CSIRO Manufacturing have designed a permselective membrane based on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) for making practical lithium-sulfur batteries. 

The membrane closely mimics a cell plasma membrane, demonstrating selective Li+ transport and the ability to not only retain polysulfides, but also 're-activate' them on the membrane's electrochemically active interface. The team used the membrane to demonstrate high loading and high rate Li-S batteries, also on a pouch cell level.

Talga Group has provided an update on commercialization and customer qualification of Talnode®-Si, the Company’s proprietary silicon anode product for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Talnode®-Si is a composite of graphite, graphene and ~50% silicon designed to significantly boost battery energy capacity when blended into existing commercial graphite anode materials.

Talga has been developing Talnode®-Si since 2018 at its facilities in Cambridge, UK, with commercial samples being produced at its pilot facility in Rudolstadt, Germany.

Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) has provided an update on the ongoing investment in its Battery Development Centre (BDC), saying its board of directors has approved an additional A$600,000 (around USD$405,000) in capital expenditure to accelerate the progress of semi-automatic pouch cell prototype production for customer trials and Graphene Aluminium Ion (G+AI) Battery cell development.

GMG noted that it has also successfully increased its organizational capacity by attracting new staff experienced in pouch cell manufacturing, thereby enabling the acceleration of its battery performance optimization program.