SwRI has secured the grant under LBNL’s Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT) Program, which is supported by the US Department of Energy’s office of vehicle technologies for developing rechargeable batteries for EVs and hybrid-EVs.
The SwRI project called ‘Synthesis and Characterization of Silicon Clathrates for Anode Applications in Lithium-Ion Batteries’ aims at exploring the use of silicon clathrates to extend the range, energy density and life expectancy of lithium-ion batteries.
Under this project, SwRI will investigate new ways to make clathrates, facilitate fundamental modeling of the anode material to better understand how it behaves, and develop and evaluate a prototype battery cell.
The SwRI project complements the goal of the DOE and stakeholders to quadruple the range of lithium-ion batteries from 10 miles between charges to 40 miles and double the energy density of these batteries within the next four years while extending the battery life to greater than 10 years.
SwRI scientist and project manager Kwai Chan said that the objective of this project is to investigate how silicon clathrates can be used to improve the performance of lithium batteries for electric, hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric automobiles applications.
