Realising the UK Value-chain in Graphene Composite Battery Materials (GRAVITY)

Climate change is one of the greatest threats facing humanity, and transitioning to sustainable energy is paramount to the survival of our species. Transport is Europe's single largest source of CO2, responsible for 25% of the continent's greenhouse gases emissions.

A transition from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles (EVs), along with a grid powered by sustainable energy, can help mitigate climate change. This transition can be accelerated if customers choose to purchase EVs over cars with internal combustion engines. However, there are multiple barriers to widespread EV adoption, including long battery-charging times, uncertainties over battery lifetimes.

This project seeks to address these barriers by developing graphene-composite electrodes via an inherently scalable and inexpensive process that is compatible with existing industry. Electrons are more mobile in graphene than almost any other known material, travelling thousands of times faster than in metals. Because of this, graphene has outstanding electrical properties, and these can be used to enhance Li-ion batteries (LIBs).

The cathodes of most LIBs are formed of small particles of metal-oxides, such as nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC). These are good at storing Li+ ions, but poor electrical conductors. To enhance electrical conductivity, these particles are coated in carbon black (essentially high-grade soot); however, graphene has far superior electrical properties, and therefore can significantly increase the electrical conductivity of electrodes in the battery.

It is extremely challenging to create a high-quality graphene-metal-oxide composite. This is because the graphene nano-sheets have a tendency to stick to other graphene nanosheets in preference to the metal-oxide particles. Multiple approaches have been applied to address this problem; however, to-date these have not succeeded, largely because the process results in poor quality graphene (e.g., using reduced graphene oxide), or uses surfactants, resulting in undesirable residues in the materials.

Anaphite has developed a low-cost scalable process to form graphene-metal-oxide composites, which is compatible with the rapidly scaling LIB manufacturing infrastructure. Anaphite's composite materials are suitable for creating batteries with faster charging times. Batteries formed using this technology will also last longer due to the improved electrical performance of the electrodes