Stratus Materials Inc., a company focused on the development and commercialization of advanced cathode active materials (CAMs) for lithium-ion batteries, today announced that its first-generation LXMO CAM material has achieved a significant milestone associated with cycling durability in electric vehicle applications.
This month, LXMO-containing pouch cells surpassed 1,000 full depth-of-discharge cycles while maintaining greater than 80% of their initial capacity, a common goal across the EV battery industry. The 3rd party-built cells used standard cell and electrode designs, employing a natural graphite anode and an electrolyte of standard industry components, to work in conjunction with the Stratus cathode material. The cells in the test group maintained 82-86% of their initial capacity and are projected to exceed 1,200 cycles before reaching 80% of their initial capacities. At the same 1,000-cycle point, the average discharge voltage of the cells maintained approximately 97%, dropping only 0.1 V from their initial values. The excellent capacity and voltage stability of the cells surpass the energy retention of many commercial materials in use today.
Jay Whitacre, CEO & CTO of Stratus Materials (and Professor at Carnegie Mellon University), said: “These cells have been cycling for the last 10 months and clearly demonstrate that our proprietary materials are able to meet EV industry durability needs. To our knowledge this is the first time such minimal loss in cell voltage has been documented for this class of materials. The Stratus team looks forward to building upon these strong technical results as we improve, commercialize, and scale production in the coming quarters.”
Stratus products are in the lithium-rich, manganese-rich (LMR) category of cathode active materials. LMR cathodes have garnered significant interest in the Li-ion battery and EV industries due to several highly promising attributes including high energy density, low cost, and high safety. However, despite being in development around the world for over two decades, LMRs have not yet been commercially deployed because of several persistent technical challenges – primarily the voltage and capacity instability issues that Stratus Materials has largely overcome, as demonstrated by its latest results. With its continued technological progress, Stratus Materials is focused on enabling the first fully functional, LMR-class CAMs that are suitable for full-scale, commercial use.
Scott Pearson, President & CCO, added: “We are thrilled to show that our first-generation LXMO material can exceed this EV cell durability target while also delivering a set of highly compelling advantages versus incumbent CAMs. We expect that this proof point will be one of many that we will be offering to our industry partners and customers.”
Stratus is currently producing materials on its existing pre-pilot production line in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has ongoing sampling efforts underway with many of the leading companies in the EV and EV battery industries. As previously announced, the company will be increasing its production capabilities from pre-pilot to pilot scale later in 2024.