Altech Chemicals Ltd (ASX:ATC) has opened a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) that invites eligible shareholders to purchase up to A$30,000 of new shares at A$0.107 per share.
ATC recently raised A$8.1 million via the issue of 77,414,345 fully paid shares at A$0.107 per share following an in-house placement.
The company intends to raise a maximum of A$4 million via the SPP and any funds raised will be applied towards construction of a pilot plant in relation to its battery materials coating technology in Saxony, Germany, the development of PFS and DFS studies, purchase of German land, and administration costs and for general working capital purposes.
The SPP closes on Friday, December 17, with shares to be issued on Thursday, December 23.
Altech fast-tracking development
The money will be put towards further development of Altech's downstream alumina coated battery materials business, which it believes could be a game-changer for the electric vehicle battery market.
Altech is looking to acquire land in Germany to house a battery materials coating pilot plant.
The same land will be used to house a 10,000 tonnes per annum battery materials coating plant, which is currently the subject of a preliminary feasibility study, while funds raised will be used to fund a definitive feasibility study in relation to the same plant.
Altech’s alumina coating technology is successful on both silicon and graphite particles, typical of those used in the anode of lithium-ion batteries, particularly within the burgeoning electric vehicle industry.
The technology aims to improve battery life and performance.
Changing the lithium-ion landscape
News of the successful raise comes shortly after Altech announced it had finally “cracked the silicon barrier” and produced and tested a series of lithium-ion battery anode materials that have ~30% higher retention capacity compared to conventional lithium-ion battery anode materials.
Here is Altech Chemicals Ltd (ASX:ATC)'s Iggy Tan discussing the breakthrough.
Importantly, the Altech batteries demonstrated extremely good stability and cycling performance over extended periods.
The breakthrough comes at a time when the lithium-ion battery industry has acknowledged the necessity to increase lithium-ion battery energy density and reduce costs.
To do so it needs to introduce silicon in battery anodes, as silicon has ~10 times the energy retention capacity compared to graphite.
Silicon metal was recently identified as the most promising anode material for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries.
However, until now silicon was unable to be used in commercial lithium-ion batteries due to two critical drawbacks.
Firstly, silicon particles expand by up to 300% in volume during battery charge, causing particle swelling, fracturing and ultimately battery failure. The second challenge is that silicon deactivates a high percentage of the lithium ions in a battery.
Lithium ions are rendered inactive by the silicon, immediately reducing battery performance and life.
With all that in mind, the industry has been racing to crack the silicon barrier.
Certainly Elon Musk is on board, having alluded to the advancement of silicon oxide-based solutions to become the anode of choice for mainstream battery producers and should dominate the market over the next five to seven years.