Battery manufacturer Theion has designed lithium-sulphur cathode technology that triples the energy density and requires 90% less energy to produce.
The start-up’s secret ingredient is sulphur – a material available in abundance without harmful mining.
Conventional lithium-ion cells contain cathode materials that have high processing costs and high content levels of metals like nickel and cobalt. But sulphur requires much less energy to produce and is 99% cheaper to source, according to Theion.
Its patented production process also extends the cycle life of batteries by combining sulphur’s crystal material properties with carbon nanotubes and a proprietary solid electrolyte.
Theion’s next step is to ship its material later this year to aerospace customers as part of the qualification stage. Then it plans to service air taxis, drones, mobile phones and laptops before turning to electric vehicle sectors in 2024.
“We are using mother nature’s crystals under the guidance of our patented processes to unlock sulphur’s full potential as energy carrier,” said Marek Slavik, Theion co-founder and chief technical officer. “Its wide abundance around the world is crucial to the material cost. The design of our highly energy efficient manufacturing processes makes our Crystal Batteries fully sustainable.”
Theion has hired Dr. Ulrich Ehmes as its new chief executive to lead the commercialisation phase of its product.
Dr. Ehmes sits on the board of major battery research clusters funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education and is a member of European and German battery associations.
“I joined Theion because I am convinced that selecting the right battery active materials and processing these materials in a way that best leverages the material’s storage property, will disrupt the battery industry to another level,” he said.
“With 16 patents pending, our process innovations are scalable, and will bring a new dimension of mobility, range, usage time and sustainability.”
Theion is backed by Team Global, a technology holding company investing in and starting frontier technology companies.