Silicon-first
Battery
Technology
Blue Current imagined the future battery and is working to deliver it with three critical performance vectors. The first is to enable the highest possible silicon content to maximize energy density. The second is that the battery must cycle well at low operating pressure reducing the need for extra packaging material. The third is that it must be safe as measured by the thermal stability of the battery materials at high temperatures. Blue Current believes that it is the first to deliver on all three of these metrics using what it refers to as a silicon-first approach with elastic composite electrolyte technology.
Blue Current's Silicon Elastic Composite Battery
Solid State Anode
10x higher silicon content
Full Chemistry System
Enables high performance, low-pressure operation
Composite Separator
Thin composite separator
Cathode
Optimized for fully dry operation
High Energy Density
at 750 Wh/L surpasses leading NMC cells
More Cycle Life
at 1,000-1,500 cycles rivals LFP cells
Faster Charge Time
at 15 minutes to 50% rivals NMC
Inherent Safety
no flammable liquid, no thermal runaway, third party validated tests
Lower Cost
by 20% with abundant materials and eliminates liquid electrolyte handling and processing cost
More Sustainable
with no PFAS or fluorine
Combining Polymers and Ceramics to Enable Silicon
Blue Current combines compliant polymers for adhesion and elasticity with ceramics for ionic conductivity. Electrolyte particles are tied to the silicon particles by strands of polymers, preventing additional SEI formation. Polymers also constrain swelling of the active material, enabling the silicon particles to cycle at low pressure without expanding dramatically. Traditional solid electrolytes lack elasticity leading to the need for high operating pressure to prevent swelling of the battery cells.
- Blue Current elastic composite electrolyte particle
- Traditional solid electrolyte particle
- Silicon active material particle
Silicon-first Design
Silicon is one of the most abundant material on earth. It also stores ten times more lithium ions than traditional graphite anode materials. With our silicon elastic composite technology we’re able to achieve over 1000 cycles using 10x more silicon than state of the art lithium-ion cells, thus reducing the thickness of the anode by 50% and creating a path to 1000 Wh/L.
Low Operating Pressure
For fully dry ASSB to be commercially viable, operating pressure needs to be become irrelevant. Customers tell us that this should be no more than 1.0 – 1.5 MPa for EVs and 0.1-0.5 MPa for devices – similar to the pressure in a bicycle tire. We’re already testing cells below 1 MPa and we plan to continue driving further pressure reductions over time.
Safe Chemistry
Our multilayer cells have been tested by an independent 3rd-party lab using nail, crush and overcharge testing. This testing showed no thermal runaway, venting or ejection of internal materials. We are encouraged by these results and plan to scale our safety tests as our pilot factory is built.
High Volume Manufacturing
Our full dry chemistry can be produced using the same high-volume manufacturing equipment currently used in lithium-ion pouch cell production. This includes mixing, coating, calendaring and stacking. Unlike traditional battery production, we do not require the costly steps of formation and aging, which are assumed to be roughly 5% of the overall cost of a traditional LIB battery cell.
The proposed work is scientifically meritorious and revolutionary.
US Department of Energy
Frequently Asked Questions
Silicon-first means that we start with the ideal future design for a battery based on silicon versus trying to fit silicon into a traditional battery design. This is what leads us to using a fully dry chemistry. Silicon elastic composite electrolytes combine the adhesion and elasticity of polymers with the ionic conductivity of glass ceramics. This forms a fully dry material that enables a high content of silicon to cycle well in a fully dry chemistry system.
The benefits include high thermal stability for safety, low operating pressure for reduced packaging, and long cycle life with high silicon content for energy density. Our cells have the potential to use raw silicon that provides the best combination of specific energy capacity and low cost.
Safety should be addressed first at the cell chemistry level versus the system level where it adds much more cost and complexity. Cells should also not explode or violently eject materials when they fail.
We believe that chemistry is the hardest part of battery development. Scaling is also really hard. But if we get the chemistry right first, we’ll have a much better chance of scaling successfully, particularly since we’re using existing high volume manufacturing systems.
Blue Current sources anode and cathode active materials from the world’s top material providers. It then builds its own anolyte, catholyte, separator, and solid electrolyte.
Not at this time. The company believes its approach with silicon is lower risk and will deliver more quickly. Early in the company’s development, we ran a series of calculations and looked at the practical constraints of lithium metal and realized that we could build a silicon rich battery with polymers and ceramics and a thin separator that provides close to the theoretical maximum energy density of lithium metal but without any of the downsides with safety, life cycle, quality, manufacturing scalability and cost.
Yes, the company’s internal and 3rd-party-validated performance data is available under an NDA.
The company is now confident in the performance of its technology and sees additional gains that will come through scale. In addition, partners and customers are requesting samples to test.
Our initial business model is to partner with battery and automotive manufacturers to enable them to build with our technology and knowhow. Eventually we may also create our own factories to focus on other markets.
Blue Current has a state of the art and production-ready facility built specifically for solid-state battery R&D and pilot manufacturing. This includes large utility power interconnect, wet lab, two dry rooms covering 4000 square feet, 5000 square feet of battery cycling lab space and a high bay logistics area.
The company has developed a broad foundational base of intellectual property with over twenty-five patent families and related trade secrets. This focuses on new materials and material integration for fully dry composite solid state batteries and advanced manufacturing techniques required to scale.