Technology Opportunities

Process of making reduced graphene oxide-metal sulfide composite for Li-ion batteries and Na-ion batteries

Technology Overview

There is a continuous quest to increase the energy density of Lithium ion batteries (LIB) to meet the increasing power consumption needs. Graphite has been used widely as anode material in commercial LIB, but its theoretical specific capacity is low. This technology proposes a use of a uniform metal sulphide layer deposited on graphene oxide as an anode material for LIB.

Another part of the technology involves use of the above anode material in sodium ion batteries (NIB), an alternative to LIB. Sodium is cheaper and occurs in abundance compared to lithium. Our results for the composite material as anode material have shown record high capacity and cycle performance for both LIB and NIB.

Potential Applications

Use in batteries for portable electronics, military, electric vehicle and aerospace applications

Customer Benefits

• Excellent capacity, first cycle efficiency and rate performance
• Stability

Technology Features & Specifications

The technology deploys a novel sulfurization and heat treatment step. This process allows a uniform active layer to be deposited on the graphene template, which improves their connectivity. This also improves the uniform reaction with lithium ions.

Market Trends and Opportunities

• The LIB market is expected to grow tremendously in automobile, industrial and especially in consumer device applications. In electric vehicles applications alone, the market is expected to grow to $9.8 billion in 2015 and as high as $52 billion by 2020.
• NIB, a cheaper alternative to LIB, is currently still in developmental stage. However, research is actively been carried out to determine the optimum anode and cathode material.