Australian technology company, Calix, has announced it is the recipient of an Australian Advanced Manufacturing Growth Fund award to produce advanced materials for lithium ion batteries, a major growth market over the coming decades.
“As the world transitions to renewable energy there will be an increasing demand for efficient, cheap, and high-capacity electricity storage. This means there is a massive global market for batteries that Calix can tap into,” said Calix CEO Phil Hodgson.
“The Calix Flash Calciner (CFC) technology can be used to make a wide variety of mixed metal oxide materials for advanced manufacturing applications.
“For example, we started with some cheap, agricultural-grade manganese carbonate and, using our CFC technology, created various controlled oxidation states of highly porous manganese oxide, a common lithium battery material.”
The materials were tested by Dr Qilei Song’s research group at the Imperial College in London, and the results reviewed with Australian experts such as Monash University and Deakin University’s BatTRI Hub.
Professor Doug MacFarlane from Monash University said, “Calix’s material appears to have unique properties that we expect should lead to superior battery and supercapacitor performance. These are early days but we are very encouraged by the potential.”
Phil Hodgson said, “The application of Calix’s technology to batteries could be a game-changer in terms of providing a viable, sustainable option that supports the global goal of renewable energy.”