TransForum Vol. 9, No. 2

Argonne’s Lithium-ion Battery Research Produces New Materials
and Technology Transfer Successes

Argonne researchers (left) Zonghai Chen, Khalil Amine and Ilias Belharouak won an Excellence in Technology Transfer Award for a battery system expected to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and America’s dependence on imported oil.

Argonne’s highly regarded battery research was recently recognized for three significant accomplishments in the development of new battery materials and the transfer of Argonne-developed advanced high-energy cathode and processing technologies to the private sector.

According to Argonne Director Eric Isaacs, “These battery research accomplishments have the potential to put the United States several steps closer to reaching President Barack Obama’s goal of putting more than one-million plug-in hybrid electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”

Argonne-EnerDel Battery Partnership Wins Tech Transfer Award

Argonne scientists Khalil Amine, Ilias Belharouak and Zonghai Chen won an Excellence in Technology Transfer Award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer for their work with EnerDel, Inc., on a very high-power battery system for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). This nano-lithium titanate-based battery technology also won an R&D 100 Award in 2008.

Funded by EnerDel, Inc. under the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) program, the Argonne-developed system has the potential to meet most of the USABC requirements for HEVs. The technology has enormous commercial potential because it enables the development of safe, long-lasting high-power batteries for HEVs. EnerDel gave the Argonne researchers one year to conduct the research in support of the company’s two-year commercialization goal.

Benefits of the new Li-ion battery include:

• Long cycle life
• Unmatched safety performance compared to other Li-ion battery technologies
• Resistance to overheating during high-rate cycling
• 5-kilowatt cold cranking at -30 °C
• Highest power ever reported in a Li-ion battery, when combined with a lithium manganese spinel
• Reliability
• Low cost

Argonne developed the technology under a Work-for-Others agreement. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program provided precompetitive research funding.

BASF to Produce and Market Argonne-developed High-energy Composite Cathode Materials

Argonne National Laboratory battery researchers (left) Khalil Amine, Chris Johnson, Sun-Ho Kang and Michael Thackeray flank a continuously-stirred tank reactor used to produce scaled-up quantities of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries. Argonne’s lithium-ion battery technology will be commercialized by chemical company BASF under a licensing agreement.

Continuing the theme of transferring DOE-funded research from lab to market, Argonne and BASF (the world’s largest chemical company) signed a global licensing agreement that enables BASF to produce and market Argonne’s composite cathode materials to manufacturers of advanced Li-ion batteries. The patented cathode materials and the process for making them are licensed to BASF as part of a diverse suite of Li-ion battery inventions and patents developed at Argonne, with funding from DOE’s Vehicle Technologies Program.

The advancement and commercialization of the Argonne-developed cathode materials will result in batteries that perform better, last longer and are safer than today’s Li-ion batteries, which is critical for the advancement of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs).

Argonne’s composite cathode materials incorporate a unique combination of lithium- and manganese-rich mixed-metal oxides. Manganese enhances the structural and thermal stability of the electrode, which increases battery safety, according to Michael Thackeray, Argonne Distinguished Fellow and director of the Center for Electrical Energy Storage at Argonne. Manganese is also more abundant and less toxic than cobalt or nickel.

Enhanced stability also permits battery systems to charge at a higher voltage, resulting in much greater energy storage capacity than exists in today’s cathode materials—an especially important consideration for vehicular applications.

“Argonne’s technology offers a 50–100 percent increase in energy storage capacity over conventional cathode materials,” says Thackeray. “In short, it offers the longest-lasting energy available in the smallest, lightest package.”

In addition, “Argonne’s composite cathode materials exhibit outstanding safety characteristics compared to other layered metal oxide cathodes and have the potential to meet the energy requirements for a 40-mile, all-electric range PHEV,” according to Khalil Amine, Argonne senior scientist and leader of the Battery Technology group.

"This licensing agreement has tremendous potential,” says Stephen Ban, Director of Argonne’s Office of Technology Transfer. “BASF’s ability to make these advanced materials widely available will significantly advance the penetration of next-generation lithium-ion batteries into the U.S. marketplace.”

BASF will conduct further Li-ion battery material application development. It plans to build one of North America’s largest cathode material production facilities in Elyria, Ohio.

Global Partnership Produces Safer, Longer-lasting Cathode Material

Researchers at Argonne and Hanyang University in South Korea have developed a new high-energy cathode material that greatly increases the safety and extends the lifespan of Li-ion batteries. This new cathode material is based on a layered lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide. Each particle has a central bulk that is rich in nickel (Ni) and a manganese-rich (Mn-rich) outer layer, with decreasing Ni concentration and increasing Mn and cobalt (Co) concentrations as the surface is approached. The former provides high capacity, while the latter improves thermal stability.

The transitional nature of the new material’s composition makes it more functional. Says Argonne’s Khalil Amine, “The high-energy material we developed makes up a new class of oxide materials in which the composition of each particle changes from the bulk to the outer layer. Most oxide cathodes have a uniform composition throughout each particle, and offer low capacity and high surface reactivity with the electrolyte.”

The new material’s characteristics greatly improve the life and safety of lithium battery materials, while offering very high-energy characteristics for possible use in PHEVs.

"The material has also demonstrated a very high power capability,” said Yank-Kook Sun, co-principal investigator and a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Hanyang University. “We are able to charge the material to 4.3–4.4 volts and attain a very high capacity of more than 210 milliampere hours per gram (mAh/g), with good power capability,” he said. “Conventional cathodes have a capacity of 140 to160 mAh/g.”

Argonne National Laboratory works with DOE’s Office of Vehicle Technologies to develop advanced anode and cathode materials and improve very high-energy lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery technologies for transportation applications. When used in light-duty vehicles, very high-energy batteries will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and America’s dependence on imported oil.

October 2009