From Research to Reality: How Ecosystems Are Driving the Shift to a More Sustainable Solvent-Free Battery Technology
At Daikin, we are committed to supporting the global transition to sustainable energy. We are proud to share the results of the ProLiT project, a successful collaboration between academia and our esteemed industry partners.
Together, we have developed a conceptual framework for the industrialization of dry coating for lithium-ion battery cathodes. By eliminating the need for toxic solvents (NMP) and reducing energy-intensive drying processes, we are helping to make battery production cleaner, faster and more cost-effective.
ProLiT project bundles all the necessary expertise from industry and science for the comprehensive development of a dry coating for cathodes for use in lithium-ion batteries (LIB). A hybrid approach combines LIB material development with process and production development with the aim of transferring scalable and competitive processes and products to industry. Overall, this initiative unlocks both economic and ecological competitive edges, such as the elimination of the environmentally concerning N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions.
How Daikin contributed to the breakthrough:
- Advanced Material Synergy: Utilizing our high-performance PTFE binders to enable the critical fibrillation required for solvent-free electrode stability.
- Process Optimization: Investigating the interdependencies between cathode materials (LFP/NMC) and industrial process parameters.
- Scalability: Developing a robust roadmap for moving dry coating from the lab to large-scale production.
This research and development project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the (03XP0413B) and managed by the Project Management Agency Jülich (PTJ). The author is responsible for the content of this publication.