HYDRA aimed to advance beyond the state of the art in at least 5 areas: cathode materials, anode materials, electrolytes, digitalization, and sustainable scale-up.
The development of cathode materials in HYDRA seeks to circumvent the problems that have so-far limited the performance of high-voltage spinel materials like LNMO. By developing blended cathodes, applying surface treatments, synthesizing doped LNMO, and optimizing particle size, HYDRA's approach seeks to reduce cation dissolution, enhance cell power, and minimize electrolyte degradation. Additionally, the adopted processes are more environmentally friendly, achieving performance targets without the use of cobalt as a critical raw material. Strong focus on the scalability of the approach will maximize the chances of industrial realization.
Anode material development in HYDRA will seek to maximize the capacity of the electrode by blending significant amounts of European produced Si with graphite. HYDRA will develop composites with low area/volume ratio and high cycling stability. In an optimized binder-conductive additive-system, these composites will give high energy density with the required cycling stability necessary for industrial relevance. The use of synthetic graphite reduces the reliance on mining natural graphite, which is a CRM.
The development of electrolytes seeks to support the unique processes at both electrodes while also being very stable and highly ionically conductive. HYDRA has developed a new generation of electrolytes stable at the high working voltages of our proposed cathode materials and stable with the anode. Using surface characterization techniques, HYDRA’s investigate on the Si-graphite anode surface passivation to avoid continuous electrolyte degradation by controlling the SEI formation at the Si surface. As giga-scale production of batteries is growing across Europe, the use of sustainable manufacturing processes is more important than ever.
HYDRA has developed solutions for all-aqueous based electrodes for Li-ion HYBRID batteries and demonstrate them in pilot scale. The water-based chemistries will reduce the need for dry-rooms, decreasing manufacturing energy consumption. This will provide the environmentally friendly and economically sustainable production processes necessary to obtain the high energy, generation 3b Li-ion batteries necessary for a decarbonized Europe.
Taken together, these individual improvements on the state of the art paves the way for a new generation of Li-ion battery cells with not only beyond state-of-the-art performance KPIs for energy density and cycle life, but also sustainably based manufacturing processes and model-accelerated development workflows. This is essential to establishing a successful and environmentally friendly battery industry in Europe. In pursuit of this goal, HYDRA has also educated the up-and-coming generation of scientists and engineers by supporting students, post-docs, and early career researchers in the project. As the demand for batteries increases around the world, HYDRA has contributed to the European society to benefit from the Green Transition in terms of education, jobs, access to clean energy, and improved environmental quality.
