Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. (TSXV: GMG) (OTCQX: GMGMF) (“GMG” or the “Company“) is pleased to provide the latest progress update on the Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery technology (“G+AI Battery“) being developed by GMG and the University of Queensland (“UQ“) under a Joint Development Agreement with Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining groups.
Notably, this update includes information about GMG’s G+AI Battery regarding:
- Scaling with the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana, United States.
- Electrochemistry Optimisation
- 1000 mAh Battery Cell Capacity Reached (Previously)
- Battery Technology Readiness Level
- Next Steps Toward Commercialisation and Market Applications
- Next Generation Battery Performance
- Important Milestones for GMG’s Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery Development
Scaling with the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana, United States.
GMG is pleased to announce that it has signed a service contract with the Battery Innovation Center of Indiana (“BIC”) in the United States of America to support the next phase of development of the Graphene Aluminium-Ion Battery.
Image 1
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BIC is a collaborative initiative designed to incorporate leadership from renowned universities, government agencies, and commercial enterprises. BIC is a public-private partnership and a not-for-profit organization focusing on the rapid development, testing and commercialization of safe, reliable and lightweight energy storage systems for defense and commercial customers. BIC is a unique organization that has been leading battery cell development for world leading battery companies for over 10 years and has carried out over 500 battery development projects.
Image 2: BIC building in Indiana, USA
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BIC’s mission is to accelerate innovation in the field of battery technology by providing access to the entire spectrum of R&D to commercialization, including low volume production, in a single 40,000 square foot facility, located in Newberry, an hour south of Bloomington, Indiana. Under one roof and with virtual connections to the research and manufacturing facilities of its partners, BIC has capabilities in all aspects of the battery life cycle.
Image 3: One of the BIC dry rooms including electrode coating equipment
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By collaborating with BIC, GMG can take advantage of BIC’s technological capabilities and manufacturing facilities and avoid the capital cost of building a pilot plant, that can cost more than AU$10 million dollars, to produce sample cells in advance of mass production. Under its service agreement with BIC, GMG will pay for services rendered and retain all intellectual property of the development work. The service agreement with BIC will enable GMG to optimize BIC’s cell design and battery manufacturing equipment during its scale up of battery production, thereby delaying capital expenditures for manufacturing capacity until battery development is further derisked.
GMG is very pleased to work with BIC on this next phase in the development of GMG’s next generation battery.
Electrochemistry Optimisation
The Company is currently optimising the G+AI Battery pouch cell electrochemistry – which is a standard battery development process step (please see Battery Technology Readiness Level section below).
The Company has developed significant knowledge regarding the electrochemistry of the pouch cells since achieving the targeted 1 Ah cell capacity in February 2024.
The challenges faced by the G+AI Battery during this phase of its maturation are very similar to other battery chemistries that have been developed into mass production – including Lithium-Ion batteries.
The performance of the pouch cells will be communicated upon successfully producing a repeatable and 3rd party tested 1000 mAh+ battery pouch cell.
The Company is confident it can meet its overall timeline on the battery cell roadmap as seen in Figure 1 and as previously communicated.
Figure 1: Battery Cell Roadmap
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There are five steps in this optimisation process which the Company completes once per week in what it calls a “Sprint” as seen in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Optimisation Weekly Sprint Process
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- Make Cell
The major components of the G+AI Battery are seen below in Figure 3:
Cathode: Graphene, binder and solvent (water or another solution) layered on a metal foil cathode substrate.
Anode: Aluminium foil
Electrolyte: Aluminium Chloride and ionic fluid (Urea or another solution)
Separator: Separator
Figure 3: Graphene Aluminium Ion Battery Components
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These are assembled in a standard step by step process – which is documented in the Company’s operation manual of procedures for the Battery Development Process.
There are many different variations that can be trialled in a cell design which can include, but are not limited to, the following as seen in Figure 4:
- Anode foil types and thicknesses
- Improving cycle life
- Cell assembly processes
- Processing of the graphene for the Cathode Slurry
- Coating of the Cathode Slurry
- Variations in the Electrolyte
- Charging and Discharging algorithms
- Optimise nominal voltage and capacity
- Types of Separators (different materials, suppliers and thicknesses)
- Optimising of the weight of the materials
Figure 4: Cell Optimisation Variables
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Typically, 5 of each battery design is made which ensures a statistical depth to the testing.
A total of 250 individual scientific experiments in pouch cells and near 1000 individual pouch cells were made from 2023 till the present date. The basic modelling of the battery is complete and the Company is now working on dynamic modelling of the battery to support multi variant optimization analysis.
- Test Cell Performance
Once the Cell Performance is measured (on the charging/discharging stacks) there are certain performance parameters that are observed which include, but are not limited to, the following:
– Capacity (mAh)
– Nominal Voltage (Volts)
– Number of Charging and Discharging Cycles (number)
– Physical expansion or contraction of the cell
– Physical changes to the cell
This data is then recorded and linked to the cell design and assembly process used to make the cell.
- Compare Cell Performance
The objective of this step is to understand what design and cell assembly parameters, in an isolated test, have a repeatable causal change in cell performance.
Each Sprint usually focuses on a single variable in design or cell assembly – an example of a 3-week Sprint program is seen in Figure 5.
Figure 5: Sprint Program Example
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- Review Optimisation Options
Upon reviewing optimisation options for the next Sprint, there are many parameters to consider. Often one design parameter of the cell or assembly process will positively improve one cell performance outcome but have a negative impact on another. As the Company optimises various performance outcomes of the battery cell – some of which are shown in Figure 6 – the Company needs to consider the various potential trade-offs on other performance outcomes.
Figure 6: Battery Optimisation Process
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- Propose Next Cell Design (repeat Step 1 again)
Once the Company has selected the design of the Cell parameters, it needs to test for optimisation. This involves repeating step 1 until a final design or variable is chosen.
Read more: https://www.acnnewswire.com/press-release/english/96636/
