From laboratory innovations to materials manufacturing for lithium-based batteries

• Published in: Nature energy 2023-04, Vol.8 (4), p.329-339
• Main Authors: Xiao, Jie, Shi, Feifei, Glossmann, Tobias, Burnett, Christopher, Liu, Zhao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/166/898; 639/301/299; 639/4077/4079/891; Economics and Management; Energy; Energy Policy; Energy research; Energy Storage; Energy Systems; Impurities; Innovations; Laboratories; Lithium; Lithium batteries; Lithium ions; Manufacturing; Mass production; Materials science; Quality control; Rechargeable batteries; Renewable and Green Energy; Review Article
• ISSN: 2058-7546; 2058-7546
• DOI: 10.1038/s41560-023-01221-y

While great progress has been witnessed in unlocking the potential of new battery materials in the laboratory, further stepping into materials and components manufacturing requires us to identify and tackle scientific challenges from very different viewpoints. It is not uncommon that practical considerations prove insurmountable after scientists make promising discoveries in the laboratory. Herein, we discuss the knowledge gap between materials research and cost-effective materials scale-up for further industry manufacturing. From a few grams of materials synthesis in the laboratory to kilograms and tons of mass production, there are many blind spots in terms of yields, impurities and quality control in which materials science can play a key role but is overlooked. With a focus on next-generation lithium ion and lithium metal batteries, we briefly review challenges and opportunities in scaling up lithium-based battery materials and components to accelerate future low-cost battery manufacturing. Laboratory innovations in energy research do not necessarily transfer into commercial success due to scale-up and other related issues. Here the authors review scientific challenges in realizing large-scale battery active materials manufacturing and cell processing, trying to address the important gap from battery basic research.