Revolution at lithium batteriesA recent development of OGRON BV, the Dutch company, is promising to revolutionise the Lithium battery technology and battery and energy storage technologies in general.
The company has applied for patent protection at the European patent office. The key element of this invention is an innovative technology used for the coating of the cathodes and anodes: The active materials, without any additives, are thermo-sprayed onto the collector foils resulting in their firm adhesion to the surface. This process is suited for all Transitional metal oxides, Lithium metal phosphates (olivine) and silicates.
With thermal-spraying, in essence, a gas flow (e.g. nitrogen) is brought to extremely high speed. The selected material, in powder form, is then added. Using thermal spraying, the desired coating materials are fused ore melted with different technologies in a burner and deposited onto the surface of the component. To ensure grouting of the melted particles on the surface it is mostly previously scored by radiation. This creates a solid adhesive layer.
Looking, for example, at the cathode, a significant improvement of the electric conductivity is achieved. At the same time, the thermal stress for collector foils and active material is negligible. As result, it will be possible, for the first time, to manufacture Lithium polymer cells/batteries which are long-lasting (30 years and more) can be recharged very fast and can be manufactured in all dimensions |
