Electric vehicle battery developers partner for sulfur solid-state innovation

Ampcera Inc. International Battery Company and Xponential Battery Materials (XBM) have signed an MoU to collaborate on the production of a sustainable, high-energy density, low weight, and cost-effective sulfur solid-state battery (S-SSB) for electric vehicles (EVs).

Global surge in demand

The demand for affordable and sustainable e-mobility battery solutions presents a massive opportunity for new sulfur cathode and solid-state electrolyte technologies in the global EV/3C battery industries. This collaboration between Ampcera and XBM establishes a novel Li-S-SS and Na-S-SS battery development partnership that aims to leverage both company’s chemistries and related Li-S/Na-S and solid-state electrode manufacturing know-how to help OEMs accelerate commercial-scale Li-S/Na-S-SS cell production in the U.S.

“Ampcera is now working closely with XBM to further develop and produce a collaborative sulfur+solid state battery materials platform offering,” says Sumin Zhu, PhD, CEO of Ampcera.

The battery chemistry in a Li-S/Na-S Solid-State battery system is quite unique. Different from NMC, LFP, or graphite-based EV Li-ion batteries (LIBs), in which the lithium ions intercalate into accessible space, Li-S-SSB is a conversion system. The cathode active material, sulfur as S8, covalently bonds with Li or Na ions through a series of reactions to create Li/Na2S – two Li/Na ions for each sulfur atom – creating some very promising SS battery performance opportunities.

Turning industrial waste byproducts into sustainable sulfur cathode battery materials

XBM takes abundant waste byproducts from petroleum (sulfur) and paper processing (lignin/tannin) industries to serve as a critical domestic EV battery material supply chain feedstock.

“Our CarbonX Li-S cathode material is the most sustainable EV battery cathode material with nearly 2x the capacity compared to other LIB cathode materials, at roughly half the cost of competing EV LIB cathode materials,” says Phil Roberts, CEO of XBM. “We are very excited to be working with Ampcera as a leading Solid-State materials platform partner.”