Utilizing climate forest residues for improved high-power energy storage devices

Offentlig prosjektsammendrag

Electrification is a necessary step in the direction of decarbonizing our society, and batteries play an important role in this transition. However, the state-of-the-art batteries such as lithium-ion batteries (LiB) have some drawbacks. One drawback is that they are not suitable for applications that require high power, since fast charging and discharging cause the lifetime of the LiB to decrease. Additionally, there is an increasing concern with the environmental cost of battery production chains, particularly extraction of cobalt and nickel. Beyonder is developing a lithium-ion capacitor (LiC) which addresses these drawbacks: high-power lithium-ion capacitor cells that are sustainable and safe, and is therefore a better alternative than LiBs for applications that require high power and/or fast charging. A LiC is a hybrid energy storage device with electrochemical properties in between those of a supercapacitor and a lithium-ion battery, comprising typically a supercapacitor-type activated carbon-type cathode and battery-type graphite anode. Beyonder’s LiC technology uses sustainable materials such as silicon and sawdust. Although Beyonder has a good understanding on how to produce electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors from forest residues, we cannot fully identify which plant species are most suitable for our production. A greater understanding is important for large scale production because of process continuity and product uniformity. Therefore, Beyonder’s main objective of this project is to improve our understanding of the relation between the type and part of the plant used and the internal structure of the resulting activated carbon. This will improve our LiC cells further and contribute to a faster electrification of the society. In order to accomplish this objective, the project will be performed by Beyonder AS in collaboration with Trefadder AS and with research assistance from UiS, SINTEF, and CICenergiGUNE from Spain.