*Steven J. Visco, Eugene Nimon, Valentina Loginova, Alexei Petrov, PolyPlus Battery Company, Berkely, CA
The global market for Li-ion batteries was roughly $40 billion in 2019 and is projected to grow to $130 billion by 2027. Although the performance of Li-ion batteries has improved steadily since its commercial introduction by Sony in 1991, this has been due to incremental engineering advances rather than step-change innovations. PolyPlus Battery Company has invented and patented a unique ultra-thin sulfide glass separator that is enabling for rechargeable lithium metal electrodes. The replacement of the bulky and heavy carbon anode by lithium metal results in almost a factor of two improvement in energy density relative to commercial Li-ion batteries. Conventional Li-ion technology is based on the use of flammable liquid electrolytes. The transition to solid-state batteries enabled by continuous glass electrolyte separators allows step-change improvement to energy density (Wh/l and Wh/k) while simultaneously improving safety of the cell technology. PolyPlus is using an inherently scalable approach to fabricate thin sulfide glass which is closely related to the manufacturing of thin glass for flexible displays. The sulfide glass is then coated with a thin layer of lithium metal by thermal evaporation. In this presentation we will provide an overview of PolyPlus’ approach to fabricate and manufacture next generation solid-state batteries.