Silicon anode battery firms get a major boost

Abstract

Start-ups hoping to commercialize silicon materials for battery anodes raised nearly half a billion dollars in the final quarter of 2022. The money is intended to help them build factories and incorporate their materials into mass-market electric vehicles in the next few years. Nearly all lithium-ion batteries use graphite materials in their anodes, the negatively charged ends of batteries that store lithium ions flowing from the positively charged cathodes during charging. Materials containing silicon can improve a battery’s energy density because they store more lithium ions than the same amount of graphite. However, silicon has proved difficult to incorporate into batteries because it swells during charging, potentially causing a damaging reaction with the battery’s electrolyte. The bulk of the recent cash came in mid-October when the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $250 million in combined funding to help Amprius Technologies, Group14 Technologies, and Sila Nanotechnologies build factories for silicon