Lithium ion batteries (LIB) are representing a milestone in electrochemical energy storage and are still the state-of-the-art battery system for various mobile and stationary energy storage applications. However, the practical energy density of LIBs starts to reach an asymptotic limit. Beside LIBs, an auspicious variety of battery systems comprising a better option for specific applications in terms of e.g. energy density, so establishing a diversity of specific battery systems for specific applications is a good strategy.[1 ] After initially paving the way for the LIB, the lithium metal battery (LMB) experiences a revival due to an outstanding theoretical specific capacity (3 860 mAh g−1) and low electrochemical potential (−3.04 V vs. SHE). However, continuous electrolyte consumption, the formation of an inhomogeneous SEI and high surface area lithium (HSAL), whose growth is induced by the heterogeneous and fragile structure of the SEI film, are still dominant challenges that need to be overcome. The liquid electrolytes also deal with safety issues like risk of leakage and flammability. The combination of Li metal with solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) could supress HSAL formation and avoid those safety hazards. However, SPEs deal with poor ionic conductivity at room temperature (10−8 S cm−1 ≤ σ ≤ 10−5 S cm−1) and, additionally, it is necessary to control the Li morphology during electrodeposition/dissolution to realize high-energy all-solid-state batteries (ASSB) based on Li metal anodes.[2 ,3 ] Several artificial protective coatings have been proposed to improve the LMA/SPE interface by facilitating the Li ion flux, promoting a homogeneous Li electrodeposition/dissolution and protecting the LMA against electrolyte degradation as well as enhancing the Li wetting interface. The SPE induces a more flexible interphase that withstands the volume change. Recently, metal oxides coated by atomic layer deposition (ALD) have gained attention due to a great thickness control, the possibility of monolayer deposition as well as a consequential homogeneity of the deposited protection layer. Furthermore, ALD is suitable for roll-to-roll coatings which is feasible for industrial application.[3,4 ] Herein, the setup of Li-metal-polymer batteries (LMP® technology) commercialized by Blue Solutions and applied in their “blue cars” (30 kWh, 100 Wh kg-1) was modified in several points. Li metal was coated with a metal oxide via atomic layer deposition (ALD) to form an intermetallic phase as protective layer and to improve the Li+ flux. The artificial protective coating at Li metal was combined with a PEO- and/or polyether-based SPE and the effect of the modifications on the electrochemical performance in different ASSB setups was investigated and characterized.[1] Placke, T.; Kloepsch, R.; Dühnen, S.; Winter, M. Lithium ion, lithium metal, and alternative rechargeable battery technologies: the odyssey for high energy density. Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry 2017, 21, 1939-1964.[2] Cheng, X.-B.; Zhang, R.; Zhao, C.-Z.; Zhang, Q. Toward Safe Lithium Metal Anode in Rechargeable Batteries: A Review. Chemical Reviews 2017, 117, 10403-10473.[3] Han, Z.; Zhang, C.; Lin, Q.; Zhang, Y.; Deng, Y.; Han, J.; Wu, D.; Kang, F.; Yang, Q. H.; Lv, W. A Protective Layer for Lithium Metal Anode: Why and How. Small Methods 2021, 5, 2001035.[4] Han, Y.; Liu, B.; Xiao, Z.; Zhang, W.; Wang, X.; Pan, G.; Xia, Y.; Xia, X.; Tu, J. Interface issues of lithium metal anode for high‐energy batteries: Challenges, strategies, and perspectives. InfoMat 2021, 3, 155-174.

The automotive industry experiences a substantial change due to electrification of major parts of the transportation system by using lithium ion batteries (LIBs). To facilitate this transition, low cost and high energy density LIBs produced under the most sustainable conditions possible are required. These objectives are amongst others strongly related with the positive electrode. Thus, in order to achieve enhanced energy densities on cell level, the application of high-load positive electrodes for various cell systems ranging from lithium ion to lithium metal batteries is inevitable. However, to ensure high lithium ion mobility within thick composite electrodes and to obtain maximized capacity utilization, it is crucial to tailor the electrode microstructure. With regard to the production, detrimental effects like binder-migration can occur upon drying of thick electrodes inducing inhomogeneous distribution of binder and conductive additive within the electrode coating. Beyond that, the effect of lateral coating shrinkage resulting in electrode cracking during drying plays an increasingly significant role with increasing electrode thickness.The application of high solid contents (SC) during electrode paste processing can widely suppress the effects of binder migration and crack formation.[1,2] However, elevated SCs result in increasing paste viscosities leading to practical limitations for homogeneous electrode coating. By using nano-scale and micro-scale spherical, linear and three-dimensional conductive additives like carbon microfibers (CMF) or conductive graphite (CG) in addition to carbon black (CB), the adjustment of an appropriate paste viscosity can be facilitated. The addition of more carbonaceous additives acting as conductive additive as well as processing additive resolves the rheological requirements for an electrode paste with 80% SC and significantly influences the pore structure of the electrode. Thus, tailoring active and inactive components is crucial to enable processing of high SC electrode pastes with an appropriate viscosity in conjunction with the production of thick electrodes exhibiting an optimized pore structure benefiting the electrochemical performance. The additional introduction of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) leads to the formation of segregated networks providing more stability within the electrode and a favorable electrode microstructure. Moreover, the use of CNTs benefits the electrochemical performance by immensely boosting electronic conductivity resulting in higher rate capability and increased capacity retention. The various electrode formulations containing up to three different conductive additives were compared to the benchmark formulation without further additives in terms of electronic conductivity, adhesion, pore structure and electrochemical performance. Different electrode formulations were investigated and compared regarding the composite electrode adhesion strength, electronic conductivity, microstructure and electrochemical performance over 400 cycles in a coin cell setup with a graphitic negative electrode. However, the optimized formulation containing CNTs enables the production of thick positive electrodes exhibiting significantly higher areal capacities up to 8 mAh cm-2 with superior electrochemical properties and higher content of active material in the formulation resulting in higher energy densities on cell level. In a next step, the state-of-art processing solvent N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidon (NMP) was targeted with the goal of replacing NMP with a non-toxic solvent. The influence of a co-solvent on the electrode paste viscosity was investigated to further increase the SC, lower production costs and enable improved environmental benignity.A comprehensive study on tailoring the rheological, structural and electrochemical properties by processing additives is presented. The increase of the SC to 80% is a first step towards the reduction of the ecologic and economic footprint for LIB production while simultaneously enabling electrodes with high areal capacities exhibiting increased rate capability and capacity retention enabled by the addition of CNTs.[1] J. Seeba, S. Reuber, C. Heubner, A. Müller-Köhn, M. Wolter, A. Michaelis, Chemical Engineering Journal Volume 402, 2020, 125551. [2] L. Ibing, T. Gallasch, P. Schneider, P. Niehoff, A. Hintennach, M. Winter, F. M. Schappacher, Journal of Power Sources 423, 2019, 183–191.

The energy density of traditional lithium ion batteries (LIB) based on graphite intercalation compounds as negative active material is approaching the theoretical limit and are restricting the increasing demand of high energy battery systems for various mobile and stationary applications.[1] Consequently, the implementation of active materials with high specific energies became prerequisite for future battery technologies. Therein, lithium metal is one of the most promising anode active materials to replace state-of-the-art graphite active materials, due to its high theoretical capacity and low electrode potential.[2]However, poor cycling performance, low Coulombic efficiency, and the uncontrollable Li dendrite growth during lithium electrodeposition/dissolution processes remain as predominant challenges.[3] Several approaches were proposed to eliminate dendrite formation by implementing a mechanically and electrochemically stable artificial solid electrolyte interphase or artificial protective coatings (aPC) by in-situ or ex-situ surface modifications.[4] These designed aPCs should feature an increased and uniform Li-ion flux, mechanical robustness and/or protection against electrolyte decomposition, during substantial volume changes upon electrodeposition/dissolution. However, aPCs fail to support long term cycling stability in lithium metal batteries since they cannot cover all requirements.[5] Therefore, it is crucial to design and understand dual- and multilayer system that address multiple aforementioned requisites.[6] In this contribution, a dual-protective artificial layer is constructed on Li metal by physical vapor deposition consisting of an intermetallic LiZn-layer, providing a uniform Li-ion flux, and an inorganic Li3N-layer, which is electron-blocking, thus reveal surface protective properties. In addition to electrochemical characterization, the Li electrodeposition/dissolution behavior was investigated by cryo-FIB/SEM analysis to unravel the mechanism behind the enhanced cycling stability in symmetrical Li||Li cells and cells with a layered oxide-based positive electrode.[1] R. Schmuch, R. Wagner, G. Hörpel, T. Placke, M. Winter, Nature Energy 2018, 3, 267.[2] J. Liu, Z. Bao, Y. Cui, E. J. Dufek, J. B. Goodenough, P. Khalifah, Q. Li, B. Y. Liaw, P. Liu, A. Manthiram, Y. S. Meng, V. R. Subramanian, M. F. Toney, V. V. Viswanathan, M. S. Whittingham, J. Xiao, W. Xu, J. Yang, X.-Q. Yang, J.-G. Zhang, Nature Energy 2019, 4, 180.[3] T. Placke, R. Kloepsch, S. Dühnen, M. Winter, Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry 2017, 21, 1939.[4] N. Delaporte, Y. Wang, K. Zaghib, Frontiers in Materials 2019, 6.[5] D. Lin, Y. Liu, Y. Cui, Nature Nanotechnology 2017, 12, 194.[6] S. Lee, K.-s. Lee, S. Kim, K. Yoon, S. Han, M. H. Lee, Y. Ko, J. H. Noh, W. Kim, K. Kang, Science Advances 2022, 8, 1.

In order to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), novel electrolytes are of primary importance. Recently, fluorinated cyclic phosphazene derivatives in combination with fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) are mentioned in the literature as a promising electrolyte additive combination, which can decompose to form a dense, uniform, and thin protective layer on the surface of the anode and cathode electrode.[1,2] Additionally, suppressing further electrolyte decomposition and electrode corrosion, thus protecting the structural destruction of the electrodes, are mentioned within this electrolyte composition.[1–3] Furthermore, galvanostatic charge and discharge experiments with different cell composition materials demonstrate that fluorinated cyclic phosphazene compounds as additional additive material tend to improve cycling stability.[1,3,4] Although the electrochemical aspects of cyclic fluorinated phosphazene compounds combined with FEC are briefly introduced, it is still not fully clear how these two compound classes interact constructively during operation mode. Thus, the positive synergistic effect of FEC/Hexafluorocyclotriphosphazene (HFPN)-derivatives on the electrochemical performance during cell operation is not enlightened. The focus of this study is to investigate the complementary effect of FEC and ethoxy(pentafluoro)cyclotriphosphazene (EtPFPN) as additive compounds in an aprotic organic electrolyte in LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O (NCM523) SiOx/C full cells. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of lithium ethyl methyl carbonate (LEMC)-EtPFPN interfacial products and the reaction mechanism of lithium alkoxide with EtPFPN are proposed and supported with DFT measurements. Additionally, a new effect of FEC regarding the SEI formation will be introduced. The EtPFPN decomposition compounds in the electrolyte after the SEI formation have been investigated via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GC-HRMS). The electrode electrolyte interface investigation of the SEI has been performed via in-situ shell-isolated nanoparticle enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SHINERS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Constant current cycling is conducted, and in-situ Raman measurements characterize the deposition of electrolyte components and LEMC-EtPFPN traces on the SiOx/C anode material during the SEI formation. Finally, the interplay between EC, EMC, Li-alkoxide, LEMC, FEC, and EtPFPN has been visualized schematically via a reaction mechanism postulated based on analytical data of the electrolyte.[1] A. Ghaur, C. Peschel, I. Dienwiebel, L. Haneke, L. Du, L. Profanter, A. Gomez‐Martin, M. Winter, S. Nowak, T. Placke, Adv Energy Mater 2023, 2203503.[2] J. Liu, X. Song, L. Zhou, S. Wang, W. Song, W. Liu, H. Long, L. Zhou, H. Wu, C. Feng, Z. Guo, Nano Energy 2018, 46, 404–414.[3] Q. Liu, Z. Chen, Y. Liu, Y. Hong, W. Wang, J. Wang, B. Zhao, Y. Xu, J. Wang, X. Fan, L. Li, H. bin Wu, Energy Storage Mater 2021, 37, 521–529.[4] Y.-H. Liu, M. Okano, T. Mukai, K. Inoue, M. Yanagida, T. Sakai, J Power Sources 2016, 304, 9–14.

Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (Li-NMC) has been regarded as preferred cathode material for Lithium-ion battery (LIB), compared to other materials such as Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO) and Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO). Ni-rich content displays severe cycling performance and needs to be addressed to improve its performance of electric vehicle. This research focused on synthesis NMC-721 precursors with the oxalate co-precipitation. Furthermore, a variation of lithium hydroxide with the excess of 3% and 5% were added into the precursors, then calcined at temperature 800 ℃ for 12 hours. The product of precursor was analyzed by X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Particle Size Analysis (PSA) to analyze elemental composition and particle size, respectively. Meanwhile, the NMC-721 cathodes were characterized by an X-Ray Diffraction. The XRF data of precursor shows the ratio of transition metals at 7.5:1.5:1 identifying that more Ni content and less Mn content in the NMC-721, due to oxalate co-precipitation. The PSA shows that the average diameter of the precursor was 9.19 ± 0.31 (µm). The XRD result shows that the crystal structure of NMC-721 cathode belongs to hexagonal structure. It can be concluded that the NMC-721 were successfully synthesized and can be applied for lithium-ion battery.

Innovation for energy storage becomes essential for advancing the electrification goal. Over the past ten years, the trend toward electric vehicles and renewable energy has placed an unexpectedly high demand on battery technology. The development of lithium-ion batteries (LIB) has been touted as a revolution in energy storage technology. Due to its promising performance, LIB has not only performed well for electronic applications but is also well-known for its scalability for mass production. Although it is projected that LIB will continue to dominate the market for the succeeding ten years, the rise of battery giga-factories is still sluggish. The biggest barrier to increasing end-to-end battery production on an industrial scale is the complexity of the manufacturing process and the number of machines used. Because the viability of the firm may be impacted by inaccurate calculations regarding the battery production chain. Investigating how to increase battery cathode production from a laboratory to an industrial scale is therefore important. National Battery Research Institute, one of Indonesia's top battery research centers, contributed as the study's subject. The calculation was focused on NMC 811 cathode active material by considering cost structure factor such as raw materials, machinery, power consumption, and manpower. The result has successfully estimated the total cost for scaling-up 100 Kg production of NMC 811 cathode per batch or 36 Tons in a year. As a note, the data that was discussed in this manuscript limited on machinery, power consumption, and manpower aspect. While raw material cost will be discussed in detail, separately in another article.

We use ruin theory, as developed in actuarial science, to study the impact of deposit insurer choices for insurance pricing, funding (capitalization), resolving bank failures and managing investments on the probability of insurer insolvency. We use a risk aggregation model (copula) to combine multiple insurer revenue and expense streams to determine the optimum (target) deposit insurance fund level. Next, we apply ruin theory to different strategies for achieving the target fund through simulated revenue and expense streams and show how these strategies affect the probability of deposit insurer insolvency. For our empirical estimates we use the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s annual revenues and expenses as a case study. Our results suggest that ruin theory can provide insights about how deposit insurer’s choices for pricing deposit insurance, funding, resolving bank failures and managing investments affect the risk of insurer insolvency. Further, our analysis demonstrates the interactions of key insurance operations on insurer risk, with the implication that deposit insurers should manage these operations jointly rather than independently, as characterized by deposit insurance laws and the academic literature.

The electrochemical instability of ether-based electrolyte solutions hinders their practical applications in high-voltage Li metal batteries. To circumvent this issue, here, we propose a dilution strategy to lose the Li+/solvent interaction and use the dilute non-aqueous electrolyte solution in high-voltage lithium metal batteries. We demonstrate that in a non-polar dipropyl ether (DPE)-based electrolyte solution with lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl) imide salt, the decomposition order of solvated species can be adjusted to promote the Li+/salt-derived anion clusters decomposition over free ether solvent molecules. This selective mechanism favors the formation of a robust cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) and a solvent-deficient electric double-layer structure at the positive electrode interface. When the DPE-based electrolyte is tested in combination with a Li metal negative electrode (50 μm thick) and a LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2-based positive electrode (3.3 mAh/cm2) in pouch cell configuration at 25 °C, a specific discharge capacity retention of about 74% after 150 cycles (0.33 and 1 mA/cm2 charge and discharge, respectively) is obtained.

Nowadays, a hybrid composite SiO2/C has been paid attention to improving battery performance in Li-ion batteries (LIBs) as the anode. However, this material unexpectedly suffers from initial active lithium loss caused by the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) formation leading to low initial Coulombic efficiency and significantly reducing the initial capacity. In order to solve these issues, pre-lithiation has been considered an effective approach to limit active lithium loss and increase cycling performance. This work focuses on the two most common techniques, including the direct contact method (CM) and the electrochemical method in half-cell (EM). After the pre-lithiation process, the anodes would be evaluated in full-cell with LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2 (NMC622) cathode. According to electrochemical properties evaluations, pre-lithiation could enhance discharged capacity and initial coulombic efficiency. Without the pre-lithiation method, the discharged capacity in full-cell only witnessed 66.9 mAh.g-1, while CM and EM methods illustrated a better battery performance. In detail, EM exhibited a higher discharged capacity and initial coulombic efficiency (137.06 mAh.g-1 and 99.08%, respectively) compared to CM (99.08 mAh.g-1 and 93.23%) method. Besides, the capacity retention using EM achieved 71.4% and the discharged capacity illustrated 97.87 mAh.g-1 after 100 cycles, which is better than using CM, which only showed 71.40 mAh.g-1.

Cutting-edge research is taking lead batteries to the next level Energy storage is critical to our collective future. At the Consortium for Battery Innovation (CBI), we are committed to ensuring this technology continues to advance by initiating collaborative research projects and setting targets for the whole lead-battery industry. We have developed a detailed technical roadmap to establish targets and drive innovation across several critical global markets–notably automotive, stationary energy storage, motive power, and industrial applications. In this article, we take a foray into some cutting-edge work the CBI and its community are undertaking.