keywords :
UK-based battery material company Integrals
Power said it has made a breakthrough in lithium manganese iron phosphate
(LMFP) cathode active materials for battery cells.
The company has successfully developed and
validated its next-generation lithium manganese iron phosphate (LMFP) cathode
active material, which it says could increase electric vehicle (EV) range by up
to 20%. In addition, it has overcome the drop in specific capacity compared
that typically occurs as the percentage of manganese in increased.
The result, according to Integrals Power,
is cathode active materials that support higher voltages and high energy
density.
By overcoming this trade-off, these cathode
active materials combine the best attributes of the lithium iron phosphate
(LFP) chemistries — relatively low cost, long cycle
life and good low temperature performance — with energy
density comparable to more expensive nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) chemistries.
The company said this means EV range could
increase by up to 20%, or — for a given range — allow battery packs to become smaller and lighter.
The LMFP materials feature 80% manganese,
instead of the 50-70% typically found in competing materials, and have higher
specific capacity: 150mAh/g, while delivering a voltage of 4.1V (Vs 3.45V for
LFP).
Third-party testing by experts at the
Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) have been completed on coin cells
and now evaluated using EV-representative pouch cells, the company said, adding
that the developed materials will soon be available for cell suppliers, battery
manufacturers and OEMs to evaluate and benchmark.
“The challenge that the automotive industry
has been trying to overcome for some time is to push up the percentage of
manganese in LMFP cells to a high level while retaining the same specific
capacity as LFP,” Integrals Power CEO Behnam Hormozi
said in a news release. “Using traditional methods the
more manganese you add, the more specific capacity drops, and this has meant it
can’t deliver a high energy density.
“With the third-party evaluation from the
Energy team at GEIC, we’re proud to have developed a
world-class cell material in the UK that can rival the performance of NCM but
is more sustainable and more affordable, and will accelerate the transition to
e-mobility.”
Integrals Power produced the LMFP cathode
active materials at its new UK facility, alongside its proprietary LFP
chemistry.
The capability to manufacture materials
such as these in the UK is critical to the development of a sustainable
domestic battery industry and supporting not just the 2030 ban on sales of new
combustion engine vehicles, but also 2050’s net zero
emissions targets, the company noted.