Nawa technologies, well-known for its contribution to the ultracapacitor market, has developed the world’s fastest electrode for lithium batteries by using a modified version of the ones it operates in the ultracapacitors. The high-tech electrode is already in production.
Its unique design consisting of a vertical array of coated carbon nanotubes (instead of the tangled spaghetti fashion of standard electrodes) boosts the battery’s performance and charging speed significantly. It delivers ten times the power, three times the energy density, increases the lifespan five-fold, and it can charge from 0-80% in five minutes, given the proper charging infrastructure.
Furthermore, by using carbon, one of the most abundant and naturally occurring materials on the planet, Nawa also minimizes its environmental impact. The French company writes on its website:
Our vision is to develop technologies that enable highly efficient energy transition, And the key to this is our Ultra Fast Carbon Battery Technology. At NAWATechnologies, we are developing new solutions that improve energy conversion, storage, transport, and efficiency by using carbon as the material of choice. Carbon is abundant, accessible, and naturally occurring. Minimizing the environmental impact of our manufacturing processes and improving the life cycle end of our products by re-using, recovering, and recycling is at the heart of what we do.
But how do vertical nanotubes make such a difference? Because they make it easy for the charge-carrying ions to get to the current collector under load. Typical electrodes are made with a mix of powders, binders, and additives left in a disorderly manner. Therefore, the route that the ions have to take to deliver a charge is chaotic.
On the other hand, Nawa’s nanotubes create an anode or cathode structure like a hairbrush, with securely rooted poles coated in an active material – lithium-ion, or anything else. The path is clear, and the charge doesn’t need to travel as far to get in and out of the battery. It’s like a straight-line highway vs. a curvy mountain road.
The organized placement and gaps in the ultra-lightweight nanotube scaffolding mean less binder and additive material is needed, making for a lighter and more compact battery. It also eliminates several factors that cause batteries to lose performance over time.
Dr. Cameron Shearer, an independent expert on battery technologies and carbon nanotubes and Research Fellow at Flinders University, South Australia, told New Atlas:
Research has shown vertically aligned – or even just well distributed – carbon nanotubes have far greater properties than randomly placed carbon nanotubes. I am not surprised a x10 in conductivity is possible. Controlling the placement of carbon nanotubes is really the way to unlock their potential. The issue in commercialization is the cost associated with producing aligned carbon nanotubes. My guess is the cost would be much more than x10.
When New Atlas confronted Nawa on the issue of cost, its founder and CTO Pascal Boulanger replied:
The million-dollar question! Here’s a million-dollar answer: the process we’re using is the same process used for coating glasses with anti-reflective coatings and photovoltaics. It’s already very cheap.
Nawa CEO Ulrik Grape added:
In high volumes, like those processes, yes. We are firmly convinced that this will be cost-competitive with existing electrodes.
Boulanger continued:
Just to give you some numbers, the cost for depositing anti-reflective coating inside a PV panel is a few cents per square meter. It’s the same; we just deposit our material because we’ve mastered the process. The growth rate for vertically aligned carbon nanotubes is known as being very, very fast. We can grow vertically aligned nanotubes up to, let’s say, 100 microns per minute. It needs only one minute in the furnace. We’ve scaled this process on very large surfaces, and with a process that works at atmospheric pressure, at a lower temperature, we can do it a little bit like making a newspaper. Not that fast, but almost the same idea.
Nawa says its electrode technology works equally well in all battery shapes and battery chemistries. The nanotubes are compatible with several active materials in addition to lithium-ion, including nickel-manganese-cobalt, silicon, and sulfur. For other more exotic materials, the company will explore by request from cell manufacturers.
Get ready to see high-density batteries with Nawa electrodes on the market very soon! Grape said:
We expect that part of this technology can be in the product and on the market by 2022. You could call it the simpler version in 2022, and then from 2023 onwards, with all the attributes attached to it. We have to work with lithium companies. We have certain knowledge on it, but they have their own twists to the technology, be it lithium-sulfur, lithium-silicon, or advanced versions of the NMC material that’s kind of standard in the market today, or going solid-state with more lithium-metal-based batteries or whatever. So we do our part, but then we also collaborate with them, and so it will depend on their timing coming onto the market.
There is massive potential to leap forward in our societies’ electrification with such dramatic energy and power density boost. When these batteries become available, it could be revolutionary.
