Nuvola Technology, formerly known as Millibatt, is an innovative start-up focused on battery materials. It has just introduced a groundbreaking product called SafeCoat Direct Deposition Separator (DDS)™. This patented material addresses the main reason behind lithium-ion battery fires, a critical safety concern in today’s battery manufacturing process.
SafeCoat is a spray-on coating that fully encapsulates and safeguards the battery’s electrodes, preventing heat buildup and potential fires. The technology replaces the problematic plastic sheet separator material that’s commonly used in current battery production.
The traditional separator technology, a 50-year-old method, involves thousands of thin porous plastic sheets that keep the internal battery electrodes separate. However, it’s susceptible to manufacturing errors and failures.
During the assembly process, even a minor issue like a damaged sheet separator can lead to undetectable flaws. These flaws can include issues like wrinkles, misalignments, misfolds, and tears. These flaws eventually allow the electrodes to touch each other, creating the potential for fires long after the battery is manufactured.
Nuvola’s SafeCoat effectively resolves this safety concern by replacing the sheet separator with a polymer electrode coating. Since the coating is applied through spraying, the electrodes never touch each other.
LG Energy Solution has acknowledged the significance of Nuvola’s SafeCoat product. Nuvola was selected as one of the ten winners in LG’s 2022 Battery Challenge, competing against more than 100 other companies. The LG Battery Challenge aims to accelerate the adoption of new battery technologies and business models.
The creation of the SafeCoat product is especially exciting news for the EV sector. One of the main criticisms of EVs is that the difficulty of putting out battery fires makes EVs less safe than combustion engine vehicles. SafeCoat has the potential to nullify this criticism.
SafeCoat is currently being evaluated by major battery and car manufacturers. Nuvola expects to be able to incorporate SafeCoat into market-ready products by 2025.
Image source: akkvita, https://shorturl.at/bEV19. Image cropped.
