A subsidiary of Australian advanced battery anode materials and graphene additives provider Talga Resources Ltd (ASX:TLG) has received UK Government funding to develop the company’s graphitic anode for solid state batteries.
The company’s UK subsidiary Talga Technologies Limited is receiving the support under the UK Government’s ISCF Faraday Battery Challenge initiative.
Faraday represents a £246 million UK Government funding initiative for battery research, development and scale up of facilities to help create a new supply chain for battery production in the UK and income from battery technologies.
Talga Managing Director, Mark Thompson, said solid state batteries are an emerging form of rechargeable battery technology with potential to combine high energy and high power with improved safety.
They work by using a solid state electrolyte made of polymer, ceramic or glass material instead of the (more flammable) liquid electrolyte of today’s lithium-ion (“Li-ion”) batteries.
“Securing this grant and partnerships with both commercial and R&D partners is another solid step in Talga’s advancements as a battery material and technology supplier. This new anode product, Talnode-E, joins our range of advanced battery materials designed to provide leverage to current and emerging battery technologies, delivering ongoing opportunities for growth,” Mr Thompson said.
“Again we are partnered with brand names in the battery supply chain, well funded and with access to state of the art facilities, having utilised our well-developed network of innovative energy storage technology and material companies from our technology centre in Cambridge,UK.
We are seeing increased customer demand for solid state batteries, and have attained non- disclosure agreements with leading electronic and automotive companies looking to test our anodes based on our 100% owned Swedish graphite supply.”
A range of automotive manufacturers including Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and BMW have declared their goal is to incorporate solid state batteries into their vehicles by 2025.
Other companies such as Dyson and Bosch are active in this space through various investments in start-ups.
Mr Thompson said that while solid state batteries are theoretically capable of very high performance, in practice they can suffer a range of technical and commercial issues that have hindered development, particularly for larger scale applications such as electric vehicles.
A major bottleneck of solid state development is the anode, where the use of metallic lithium can cause a range of issues leading to slower charge/discharge characteristics, safety issues both within the battery and in mass production, and higher cost.
Mr Thompson said Talga aims to overcome these issues with a new high capacity graphitic carbon composite anode, Talnode-E, designed to have multiple advantages including faster charge and higher power, easier process-ability, safer handling, highly scalable industrial manufacturing and lower costs.
