Lithium Ion Cathode Materials – FutureCat

FutureCat brings together world-leading expertise in the UK battery field, with solid-state inorganic chemistry, polymer science, mechanical and thin-film engineering, computational analyses, chemical processing and state-of-the art characterisation to discover, develop and deploy next generation Li-ion cathodes. Layered nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) cathodes represent the current state-of-the-art, with the aim of moving to higher nickel-content to improve energy density and lower costs by reducing expensive cobalt dependency. Increasingly, cation-disordered rock salts are also emerging as high energy density cathodes. However, there remain persistent challenges in synthesis and scale-up, maintaining reversible capacities and optimising performance through fundamental understanding.

FutureCat will deliver significant energy density increases through high-capacity targeted-disorder and novel mixed-anion cathodes permitting multiple redox activity. Costs will be reduced by systematically reducing/ultimately eliminating cobalt-content. The consortium is also discovering new cathode chemistries and developing protective coatings/additives to extend lifetimes and reduce costs. The project’s holistic approach combines complex atomic-level structure prediction, synthetic methodology development, full battery protocol and cell-testing development, novel computational/AI approaches and state-of-the-art structure and dynamics analyses to garner those critical insights that fast-track cathode optimisation and enable new discoveries.