NEO Battery Materials Ltd (CVE:NBM) (OTCPINK:NBMFF) has announced a boost for its technology, saying testing it with metallurgical grade silicon (Si) microparticles in cells had shown no major loss of performance in the battery.
This is a step-change for the company, it told investors, because, on average, silicon microparticles are between eight and ten times cheaper than silicon nanoparticles, so using these micron-sized (μm) silicon particles means significant cost reductions and flexibility of applying NEO's technology onto various silicon particle sizes.
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NEO Is targeting on a two-track to develop and refine its technology on both silicon microparticles and nanoparticles," explained CEO Spencer Huh.
"The results shown in this test emphasize the potency of NEO's Si nanocoating technology that can be applied to silicon with various particle sizes. Our technology's flexibility of application, performance, and price competitiveness serve as the most crucial value propositions."
Huh added that the company's silicon anode will be "a simple yet unique solution" for the production of low-cost silicon anode with high-capacity battery electrodes.
The company will now test its micron-sized silicon anodes through third-party laboratory tests and direct transfers to companies in the battery supply chain that have signed non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with it.
NEO is focused on battery metal exploration in North America and on developing silicon anodes through nanocoating an ion-conductive elastomer layer. This improves capacity and efficiency compared to lithium-ion batteries, which use graphite in its anode materials.
But despite retaining more than a 10-times higher specific capacity than graphite, silicon material easily loses its energy retention and storage capacity due to high volume expansion and particle pulverization after minimal charging cycles.
"Nanosized Si could minimize its gradation pathway and partially solve this shorter life cycle problem, but the expensive cost of Si nanoparticles serves as a major bottleneck and issue for battery manufacturers and electric vehicle (EV) companies," highlighted the company.
Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com