Lithium Ion Cathode Materials – CATMAT

Targeting improvements in lithium-ion battery energy density and EV range through understanding critical properties and limitations of lithium-rich oxygen redox cathodes and of nickel-rich cathodes, and thereby developing novel solutions.

The cathode represents one of the greatest barriers to increasing the energy density of lithium-ion batteries for EV applications, with changes to the chemistry of the cathode likely to give the greatest improvements in future battery performance – boosting battery life, storing greater energy to improve range, reducing battery cost and increasing the power available to the EV during acceleration. Developing a new generation of lithium-ion cathodes therefore presents a major scientific and commercial challenge
and opportunity.

The CATMAT project is placing considerable emphasis on understanding and mitigating the current limitations of nickel-rich cathodes (with low or no cobalt) and of lithium-rich oxygen redox cathodes. The project is exploiting this new knowledge to develop solutions to issues that at present are hindering major advances, and to discover novel cathode materials with enhanced properties.

The most promising materials will be identified, before scaling up their synthesis and integrating them in full battery cells to demonstrate practical performance. This project will support the accelerated development of new cathode materials and will build on industrial partnerships to deliver technological applications.