Enhancing the Utilization Efficiency of Cathode Materials in the Li Ion Batteries

There is great interest in developing high-efficiency, lightweight Li-ion batteries with high power/energy density for various military applications such as electric drive and hybrid vehicles. One key technology to the development of such Li-ion batteries is a more advanced mateiral for cathode, in replace of the traditional LiCoO2-based material having the limted power and energy density and hence limited potential for future applications. In this SBIR project, Aegis Technology teamed with American Lithium Energy proposes to develop a novel class of phospho-olivine LiCo(Ni)PO4-based nanomaterials and the associated nanocomposite for cathodes of Li-ion batteries. This class of cathode nanomaterials, which is expected to demonstrate substantially enhanced power/energy density as compared with conventionally used cathode materials, can be also produced with a cost-effective, scalable process. In this Phase I study, we will demonstrate the technical feasibility of the proposed appoach, covering material/microstructure design, processing development, chracterization and prototyping. The Li-ion cell prototype by using such a nanomaterial cathode will be demonstrated and characterized, in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed nanocomposite in a systematic level. The successful technology development in this project will improve the design and fabrication of future Li-ion batteries with unprecedented energy density substantially exceeding those of currently available Li-ionbattery systems.