Manufacturing batteries of the future : Critical challenges and undertakings to create the next generation energy storage

Abstract: In today's world, a dominating piece of news is the global race for large-scale production of Lithium-ion batteries (LIB). LIBs are important because they have become the most widely used type of rechargeable battery in modern electronic devices, such as smartphones, laptops, energy storage systems, and electric vehicles. This has been most prominently noticed and mentioned in the transition for automakers to move away from traditional internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. The Paris agreement, the EU ban on the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035, and the United States's Inflation Reduction Act push the envelope on the need to transition towards emission-free vehicles. Therefore, large investments across the globe have been made to mass-produce high-performing batteries. The largest investments have been made in building "Gigafactories," aptly named after how many "Gigawatt Hours" the batteries produced by the factory have capacity for. The reason for such great investments made in LIB technology and its array of potential chemistries stems from a number of factors which include its high energy density, long cycle life, and fast charging capability. Nevertheless, significant investments to gain a competitive advantage in being able to manufacture the next generation of batteries have also been made. There are a number of potential technological candidates for the next generation of energy storage, but one stands out above the rest: the Solid State Battery (SSB). It is a promising new type of battery technology that changes the traditional structure of a LIB from a liquid electrolyte to a solid one. In theory and in labs, SSBs have shown to have several promising advantages over the LIBs, in regards to higher energy density, longer cycle life, and increased safety. SSBs are also shown to be more environmentally friendly, an aspect which is becoming more and more an area of focus for manufacturers due to higher sustainability demands from consumers. While there are still technical and manufacturing challenges that need to be overcome before solid-state batteries become widely available, their potential advantages make them a promising technology for the future of energy storage. However, as concluded in this report, commercial production of SSBs is currently not possible. Several key challenges are yet to be overcome in the material realm. Materials presently used in the production of SSBs work in incredibly low production environments such as laboratories where every single factor can be accounted for. Presently, things like a single crystal material, pressure, and temperature problems have raised quite a lot of questions on the importance of a quick industrialization of SSBs, and therefore the technology might be too immature for implementation today.