Coreshell is developing lithium-ion batteries that use domestically sourced metallurgical silicon in place of conventional graphite anode material. The DOE describes the project as pairing silicon-anode designs with dry-coated cathode technology to establish domestic manufacturing capacity for silicon-anode electrodes and cells.

AM Batteries will participate as a core subrecipient and supply its Powder-to-Electrode™ dry-coating process for cathode manufacturing. The technology eliminates the solvent-based wet-slurry coating step as well as associated solvent-recovery infrastructure and drying requirements.

AM Batteries said eliminating those steps can reduce capital and operating costs and lower the carbon footprint of electrode manufacturing. The company reports potential electrode-manufacturing capital-cost reductions of up to 40% and operating-cost reductions of more than 50%; those figures are company-reported estimates.

Coreshell announced Aug. 24 that DOE’s Manufacturing Deployment Office had selected the project for the $50 million award under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. AM Batteries announced its role in the project Aug. 31. DOE’s current battery-manufacturing project listing identifies Coreshell’s federal share as $50 million.

For more on functional coating technologies serving batteries and other specialized applications, see PCI’s Special Purpose Coatings coverage.