Libest, a start-up that manufactures flexible secondary batteries, won the Innovation Award at CES 2023 for its ‘Flame resistant and Anti-freeze’ battery manufacturing technology.
It is widely known that battery performance deteriorates on cold days when the temperature drops below freezing. Temperature has a great influence on the usage time of smartphones as well as the driving distance of electric vehicles. This is because when the temperature is lowered, the electrolyte freezes, which lowers the conductivity of lithium ions. For this reason, in general, lithium-ion batteries can only be used at 40 to 70 percent of their original capacity at sub-zero temperatures.
But ‘Flame resistant and Anti-freeze’ battery manufacturing technology presented by Libest is different. For the anode and cathode, NMC and graphite were used as they were, and Libest’s special electrolyte and separator were combined. As a result, it has the characteristics of flame resistancy and operation while maintaining the voltage and high energy density of the battery.
When the electrolyte of a typical battery is directly exposed to a flame at about 1,300˚C, the general electrolyte quickly catches fire, and the flame continues until the electrolyte is completely burned. In the case of Libest’s electrolyte, it can prevent direct ignition at the battery cell level because it is quickly extinguished even if it is transferred.
In other words, even if a fire occurs in the battery due to an accident in an electric vehicle, it prevents the entire vehicle from catching fire or even exploding. that you can.
It has not only such flame retardancy but also antifreeze properties at the same time. In the case of the battery currently being developed by Libest, it was introduced that it operates at -40˚C, which is impossible to operate with normal electrolyte, and is normally charged and discharged at -20˚C and -10˚C.
There are various application and use cases. It can enhance the safety of VR/AR, metaverse devices, healthcare and medical devices. A small battery with a capacity of 1 to 5 Ah can be applied to delivery robots or drones used outdoors and can be derived as a battery system that can be used in special environments such as military use. Since it can be easily applied as a pouch type or cylindrical type, it is expected that it can be used for urban transportation aviation (UAM), electric vehicle (EV), and energy storage system (ESS) when made as a medium-large battery.
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