The gellification of the electrodes and the separator in combination with a high voltage-stable gel electrolyte will allow the development of the full gel cell concept. As a result, the cells prototyped in the project will offer a high energy density allowing excellent performance in high power and high voltage applications.
NEXTCELL, formed by 17 partners from 10 different European countries, with FEV as the project coordinator, will work with a budget of €8 million to obtain the next generation of high-performance Li-Ion battery cells. The technology developed by NEXTCELL will optimise, first, the manufacturing processes, reducing the capital and operating costs of future gigafactories, by avoiding the evaporation of solvents and the electrolyte filling step. Secondly, the project will produce intrinsically safe cells, avoiding the presence of low-boiling point components in the electrodes and the separator. Finally, a reduction of around 50% in energy consumption will be guaranteed.
SINTEF’s role in the project is the development of UV and chemical grafting surface treatment and texturing of separator and electrodes to enhance their interfacial compatibility and stability for the gellified concept.
NEXTCELL will not only provide the European market with state-of-the-art cells but will also address three key aspects that currently hinder further market penetration of Li-Ion battery technology, such as costs, safety, and sustainability.
