Corshell Technologies, a California-based start-up, said it had raised $4 million in funding and is working with German chemical giant BASF SE on a new technology to tackle degradation and manufacturing problems associated with lithium-ion batteries.
It aims one day to reduce the cost of lithium ion batteries while boosting their capacities and extending their lifetimes.
Coreshell Technologies makes a coating that would go into the material layers that separate the electrodes in lithium-ion batteries.
To produce power, lithium ions move back and forth between electrodes inside the battery. But as they pass through layers, some of the lithium gets stuck, both depleting it and making it harder for remaining ions to move back and forth.
Coreshell said its coating allows the lithium to pass through more easily and without getting stuck, which speeds up the break-in process during battery manufacturing, allows less lithium to be used and could mean longer battery life.
But the key advance, the company says, was figuring out how to apply the coating in a liquid form as the separation layers are manufactured on “roll-to-roll” machinery that resembles a newspaper printing press.
Coreshell is working with BASF, a major supplier of high energy density cathode active materials in batteries, to test its coatings with BASF materials.
A BASF spokeswoman said Coreshell’s coatings have demonstrated performance improvements over standard materials so the company has decided to fund Coreshell.
Reference- InsideEVs, Cireshell Technology website & PR, Firstpost, Reuters