High Energy Density, Long Cycle Life Li-S Batteries for Space Applications

ADA Technologies, Inc. (ADA) successfully demonstrated ADA advanced lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery technology through material engineering of battery cell components with the following main achievements. (1) Successfully developed sulfur-carbon (S-C) composite electrodes with high S content, high electrode loading and excellent electrochemical performance in the resultant Li-S cells projecting conservatively a specific energy of gt;400 Wh/kg at cell level. (2) Successfully developed Li metal anode protection and coating methodologies with demonstrated superior electrochemical performance to the uncoated Li anode including high specific capacity/energy, improved cycle stability and suppressed Li dendrite formation for improved battery operation and safety of the resultant Li-S cells or batteries. (3) Using the advanced battery cell components developed under the Phase I program, the advanced Li-S cells demonstrated highly stable cycle life performance showing a great promise of achieving cycle life of 1,000 cycles at 70% depth-of-discharge (DOD). (4) ADA successfully demonstrated a Li-S pouch cell of 350 mAh in size, which delivered a high specific capacity and a stable Coulombic efficiency. This result will guide Phase II scale up efforts.The successful Phase I program laid a solid foundation and justification for a continued Phase II development effort where a technical readiness level (TRL) of 6 is anticipated at the end of the Phase II program.nbsp; ADA proposes the following Phase II development efforts: (1) Further develop/mature the Li-S battery technology via material engineering to achieve multiple performance goals including gt;400 Wh/kg at cell level, 1,000 cycles at 70% DOD and wide temperature operation (-20deg;C to +70deg;C). (2) Demonstrate the Li-S battery technology in large format prototype cells with a subsequent manufacturing/commercialization efforts for NASA lunar/space applications and non-NASA applications (e.g., defense, commercial).