Advanced Lithium Ion Battery Manufacturing

This proposal seeks to investigate and demonstrate the advantages of novel all solid-state cells with bulk cathodes that offer the potential to dramatically improve future battery performance in the following areas: * Power densities that are a factor of 10-100 times those of today. * A temperature range of operation from the melting point of lithium (~180ºC) at the upper limit, to -60ºC (and even below). The upper temperature limit can be extended above the melting point of lithium by replacing the proposed lithium anode with a lithium alloy, albeit this will lower the overall specific energy and power slightly. * Recharge times that are a factor of 10-100 times faster than those of current lithium cells. * Virtually unlimited cycle life (> 10,000 cycles) with projected useful lifetimes of up to 30 years in many applications. * Fully automated, cost-effective manufacturing processes. * No toxic or flammable liquids and/or gases evolved during charge, discharge, storage or cell rupture. * Safe to transport in their as-prepared form, i.e., fully discharged. * Compatible with `on-chip' technologies, e.g., laboratory-on-chip, MEMS and integrated circuit applications. * Principles can be extended to all solid-state electrochemical cells based on, e.g., sodium, copper or silver.