Contribution to building a decarbonized society using All Polymer Battery

SANYO CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES.LTD.

Outline

Sanyo Chemical Industries, Ltd. (hereinafter Sanyo Chemical) has co-developed the bipolar lithium-ion battery modules called All Polymer Battery with Hideaki Horie, current CEO of APB.
To realize high-quality batteries, we have developed a bipolar structure where current flows across the cell interfaces perpendicular to the electrode plane, and polymer as a basic material. The electrode material of All Polymer Battery is wrapped with gel-like polymer containing an electrolytic solution which is realized by surface control technology of Sanyo Chemical. Through the adoption of such technologies, our All Polymer Battery is characterized by such features as high reliability, high energy density, and innovative manufacturing processes at the same time.
All Polymer Battery will provide a more stable and safer power supply and it is expected to reduce the load on the global environment through various applications such as an energy storage system helping a promotion of renewable energy. It is also expected to upgrade of power infrastructure with IoT technology and Robot technology. Sanyo Chemical will contribute to build a better and more sustainable society through the support of such benefitable All Polymer Battery’s commercialization.

Description

Here are the explanations how the development of All Polymer Battery contributes to building decarbonized society.

(1) Features and targets of All Polymer Battery
All Polymer Battery is featured with higher reliability and lower manufacturing cost compared to conventional lithium ion battery. It can reduce the manufacturing cost significantly, because the drying step to form electrode layer is unnecessary and it can produce large cells and thick electrodes only by laminating the cells. We aim to its mass production and enhance the cost competitiveness.
The target application is mainly large batteries for stationary power systems mainly used by energy business operators for long period. We succeeded in gaining high energy density by increasing the electrode thickness to 5 times of conventional and making large cells. The market is expected to grow with increasing demand of renewable energy in Europe, etc.
At present, there is a problem that a system combining renewable energy and a storage battery has a higher cost than power generation using fossil fuels, and the stationary power system has not been widely used. We believe that the cost reduction by mass production of All Polymer Battery will help to spread the combination of renewable energy and storage battery in the market.

(2) Technical features of All Polymer Battery
All Polymer Battery has bipolar structure where current flows across the cell interfaces perpendicular to the electrode plane, which means it gives the shortest distance and maximizes the cross section of the current path. And it is composed of resin-based matrix. Such polymer-based material realizes high reliability. More specifically, the electrode material of All Polymer Battery is wrapped with polymer containing an electrolytic solution which is realized by using specialized surface control technology of Sanyo Chemical, and which realizes high conductivity and high reliability even in abnormal condition. Through the adoption of such technologies, our All Polymer Battery is characterized by such features as high reliability, high energy density at the same time.
If we can realize the mass production of All Polymer Battery, it is expected to reduce 90% of production cost in comparison with conventional lithium ion battery because of its innovative process where electrode can be made by only coating this active material and press without drying