CIDETEC brings its experience to the first Spanish initiative to develop a high capacity lithium-ion battery

LiOn-HD has arisen with the aim of facilitating the evolution and transformation of the national industry towards the development of high-capacity materials, with the objective of developing the first Spanish high-energy-density lithium-ion battery, with special focus on sustainability, decarbonisation and electromobility.

One of the main challenges facing the automotive industry today is its transition towards sustainable and climate-neutral technologies. In the framework of the electrification of transport, batteries are a key enabling technology for this change. However, there are major technological challenges to meet current needs and achieve this transition to smart mobility.

Spain has the opportunity to create a critical mass of industry and knowledge along the battery value chain. For electrification to become a reality, it is necessary to have high-storage batteries with a minimum ecological impact, for which there are various lithium-ion battery technologies, where the active materials inside the battery mark the difference.

In a context in which there is no consolidated national industry for the manufacture and supply of battery materials, the LiOn-HD project has arisen with the main objective of significantly improving the energy density, cost and sustainability of lithium-ion batteries. For this purpose, novel research will be launched into advanced active materials and their synergistic combinations for the different components of the electrochemical cell (anode, electrolyte and cathode), surpassing their current limits.

Within the framework of Mission 2 for Sustainable and Intelligent Mobility, part of the Missions Programme at the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI), LiOn-HD aims to lay the foundations for the establishment and deployment of a Spanish battery materials industry, adapting existing processes and developing new ones.

The consortium is made up of 8 R&D intensive companies at the forefront of their sectors. Under the coordination of SILICIO FERROLOSAR, Química del Nalón, NANOKER, RIMSA, ABCRLabs, GRAPHENEA, CUANTUM and Hi-IBERIA also participate, with the support of a total of nine research organisations: in addition to CIDETEC, CETIM, the universities of A Coruña, Santiago, Alicante, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and 3 centres attached to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC): Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology Research Centre (CINN), Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM) and Materials Science Institute of Barcelona (ICMAB).

CIDETEC Energy Storage collaborates with benchmark international companies in the sector, including manufacturers of battery materials, battery manufacturers, automotive OEMs and other intensive sectors in electrification and electrical storage. On this occasion, CIDETEC will contribute to the LIOn-HD consortium with its experience in the design and optimisation of electrode formulations based on the materials developed within the framework of the project, with a view to their validation in battery formats equivalent to the final product.

For this purpose, CIDETEC Energy Storage will scale up the most promising material combinations to higher capacity cells (up to 30-40 Ah). Different series will be manufactured at its pilot plant for the production of lithium-ion cells and electrodes. The cells manufactured from the materials generated in the LIOn-HD project will be subjected to an intensive testing and assessment programme, where the new Battery Testing Laboratory that CIDETEC has recently opened (February 2021) at the MUBIL Centre for Electromobility and Energy Storage will come into action.