Innovative fabrication
technologies for fast charging
lithium-ion batteries
About us
Battrion is a Swiss spin-off of ETH Zurich and works closely with the Laboratory for Nanoelectronics at ETH. Battrion develops and markets innovative fabrication technologies for lithium ion batteries aimed at increasing the charging speed of high energy density cells. By innovating on a single step in the industrial battery manufacturing processes, our patented Battrion technology improves the microstructure of the negative electrode, which constitutes the bottleneck for fast charging. The Battrion technology platform allows cell manufacturers to meet the growing performance, cost and safety requirements.
Our technology
The BATTRION technology allows controlling the orientation of flake graphite particles. Orienting the flakes vertically leads to short effective lithium transport distances and therefore to very high charging currents without degradation. Because the BATTRION technology uses cheap flake graphite, it also reduces cost and minimizes the environmental impact of battery production.
Beyond state of the art
Currently, two types of graphite are used in the battery industry: flake graphite and spherical graphite. Electrodes made from flake graphite are cheap but have to be operated at low charging currents to avoid degradation. The limited speed is caused by horizontal orientation of flake-shaped particles, which leads to long effective lithium transport distances. At too high charging currents, insufficient lithium transport leads to fast degradation of the battery.
The use of spherical graphite slightly reduces the effective transport distance and thus electrodes made from spherical particles can be operated at moderate charging currents. However, during the fabrication of spherical particles, 50-70% of the raw material is lost as waste. This makes spherical graphite less environmentally friendly and more expensive than flake graphite.
Higher energy density
Battrion’s technology enables fabrication of cells with higher energy density without compromising on battery lifetime. Batteries with high energy density require thick electrodes that lead to short battery lifetimes at high charging speeds. The Battrion technology improves the microstructure of electrodes thereby enabling fast charging also in thick electrodes.
Reduction in graphite
raw material costs
The natural graphite used in lithium-ion batteries today is subjected to an extensive rounding process in which the graphite’s original flake-like shape is milled into a spherical shape. This process wastes up to 70% of the original natural flake graphite. The Battrion technology directly employs flake graphite, saving the costly spheroidisation step.
Full compatibility
The Battrion fabrication technology has been tested on pilot-scale and is fully compatible with current cell fabrication processes and materials.
Team
CEO / PRESIDENT
Martin Ebner, PhD
Chief technology officer
Deniz Bozyigit, PhD
Chief research officer
Max Kory, PhD
Chief strategy officer
Gregor Berchtold, PhD
Head of production
Giovanni Saccarola
Advisory Board
Scientific Advisor
Prof. Vanessa Wood
Coating Advisor
Peter Schweizer, PhD
Automotive Advisor
Frank Wolf
Strategy Advisor
Benedikt Eska
Europe Advisor
Ulrich Ehmes, PhD
BATTRION News and Media Coverage
Careers
Interested in joining Battrion? Send us your application to careers@battrion.com.
Available positions
BATTRION AG
Lagerstrasse 14
8600 Dübendorf
Switzerland
info@battrion.com
VAT no: CHE-484.869.773 MWST
U-ID: CHE-484.869.773
Reg no: CH-100.3.800.523-1