Atomic layer deposition can enhance storage capacity and durability
Over the past 25 years, the longest driving range of an electric vehicle on a single charge has gone from about 260 kilometers to slightly over 800 km. Increasingly, these advanced battery packs have also begun storing energy from the grid or renewable sources to power homes or businesses. No wonder, then, that the global automotive battery market has surpassed US $50 billion a year and there is increasing pressure to produce greater numbers of even better batteries. Now, several companies are applying a well-established chemical technique called atomic layer deposition (ALD) to coat battery electrodes with metal oxides or nitrides, which they claim improves both the energy capacity and the lifespan of lithium-ion batteries. The companies include Thornton, Colo.–based Forge Nano, Picosun (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santa Clara, Calif.–based Applied Materials), and Beneq, in Espoo, Finland; they are leveraging the technique, which was originally developed in the 1960s . After years of refining their respective processes, these companies now hope to gain a toehold in markets for EV and smartphone batteries dominated by such giants as CATL, Panasonic, and Samsung. Of the three, Forge Nano appears to have the most developed technology. It recently announced that its subsidiary, Forge Battery, has begun sending samples of a prototype battery cell made with ALD-coated materials to customers for testing. The company says its proprietary ALD formulation, which it calls Atomic Armor, makes batteries' electrodes better at storing energy and helps them last longer. What Goes Into a Lithium-Ion Battery? The batteries found in today's electric vehicles and smartphones consist of three main components. The anode, or negative electrode, usually made of graphite, is where…