Umicore has formally opened its latest facility in Olen, Belgium, the place it plans to supply solid-state battery prototypes. It’s mentioned to be a “large-scale prototyping centre for solid-state battery supplies”.
Umicore’s involvement on this discipline comes as no shock. The Belgian firm has been engaged on solid-state battery chemistries since 2017 – supported, amongst different issues, by firm investments and collaborations. The group now arrange the prototype facility by remodeling an current constructing in Olen. Masking 600 sq. metres, the brand new centre “helps the total chain of solid-state battery growth — from the formulation of the supplies, their characterisation and manufacturing, to battery cell meeting and subsequent testing on battery degree”, Umicore says.
The holistic method ought to allow the event of recent materials classes, together with catholytes that mix energetic cathode supplies and stable electrolytes.
Umicore stresses that the event of solid-state batteries includes supplies which can be extraordinarily delicate to moisture and subsequently require a selected infrastructure, together with exceptionally dry air. “Humidity ranges inside Umicore’s laboratory are at lower than 0.1 per cent as every hour 200,000m3 of dry air is blown by way of the services. Such dry air is important for the correct testing, evaluation, and growth of this subsequent technology of cathode energetic supplies”, the battery supplies firm specifies. As a substitute of working with “remoted glove packing containers, researchers can manipulate merchandise extra freely in a bigger, open space”.
Umicore has been concerned with solid-state know-how since 2017 and holds a number of key patents. In 2017, Umicore reportedly acquired three nickel-manganese-cobalt patent households for cathode supplies from 3M. In Could 2021, the corporate entered right into a non-exclusive patent cross-licensing settlement with BASF protecting a broad vary of cathode supplies and their precursors. The settlement covers greater than 100 patent households filed in Europe, the US, China, Korea and Japan.
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In mid-2021, Umicore introduced a stake within the US solid-state battery specialist Strong Energy. A 12 months later, the group adopted up with a cooperation with the Japanese vitality firm Idemitsu Kosan. And in June 2022, either side agreed to collectively develop high-performance supplies for solid-state batteries.
Now, the event can be pooled on the new centre in Olen. “Umicore’s distinctive prototyping centre will additional scale up and advance our innovation and know-how management in solid-state battery chemistries,” says Mathias Miedreich, CEO of Umicore. “We’re dedicated to our frontrunner place within the cathode supplies trade, and this new facility is a important step in strengthening our management even additional, rising our capability for prototyping and with that our means to help our clients by an element of greater than ten.”
Umicore’s battery supplies portfolio consists primarily of NMC (nickel, manganese, cobalt) applied sciences with medium to excessive nickel content material. Quickly, manganese-rich HLM (excessive lithium, manganese) applied sciences can be added, adopted by Na-ion cathodes (sodium-ion) and solid-state battery applied sciences.umicore.de