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History Battery science is full of short circuits, explosions—and the occasional redemption story. One of them is the story of lithium iron phosphate batteries.
It is well known that LFP (“F” refers to the Latin name for iron) is a good battery material discovered in the laboratory of John Goodenough at the University of Texas. He was (now 99) a legendary battery scientist best known for designing the cathode (the crystalline structure that traps and releases lithium ions as the battery is charged and used), which led to the first commercial lithium-ion battery in 1991. The LFP, in the years since, seemed to have a lot of advantages over its predecessors. The cathode is stable and long-lasting, which could be ideal for powering electric vehicles. And unlike Goodenough’s previous cathodes, it doesn’t rely on cobalt, a relatively expensive metal, but on ordinary iron.
But when Venkat Srinivasan started working on LFP as a postdoc in the early 2000s, his advisor suggested he consider doing something else. “They said, ‘Why are you bothering about this?'” he recalls. Despite the promise, LFP doesn’t seem to have a bright future. The government is trying to nurture the LFP battery industry and a new market for electric vehicles, and is investing heavily. But electric cars haven’t taken off as quickly as hoped, so there’s little market for batteries to power them. Meanwhile, LFPs are being replaced by new battery formulations that combine cobalt with nickel to pack more energy.
How strange that LFP is ubiquitous after 20 years. Thanks Elon Musk.Over the past year, the Tesla CEO has announced a major shift to older battery chemistry — largely necessary because batteries are now in such great demand that the industry is moving toward Supplies cliff It is mainly composed of nickel and cobalt. Tesla’s partner in this regard is China’s major battery maker CATL, where the technology has been developing and quietly flourishing for years, and has now grown to LFP batteries that can power family sedans. Like most major cathode chemistries still in use today, the battery was developed in a US or European lab, but its future is entirely in China, where 90% of lithium iron phosphate batteries are made today, Based on benchmark minerals. For the US, “LFP is a missed opportunity,” Srinivasan said.
Srinivasan, now director of the Energy Storage Science Collaborative Center at Argonne National Laboratory, leads a U.S. government program aimed at preventing similar missteps.The project, called Li-Bridge, was launched this fall after a Biden administration set a goal Make 50% of new car sales electric. The U.S. government has said the U.S. has too much stake in battery technology that can only come from overseas, especially China.Automakers are also concerned about a situation similar to the current one Microchip Supply Crisis, which forces them to desperately get to the front of the queue when fresh chips come off the line. “The last thing I want to do is negotiate with Asian countries to secure supply,” said Robert Silp, Ford’s electric vehicle purchasing director. warning at a meeting last month. “We need to get it here.” If it doesn’t, that means U.S. automakers may end up selling fewer EVs than customers want.
There are signs that the battery industry is heeding its own warnings. Last month, General Motors and South Korean cathode materials company Posco Chemical, announced plans Produces cathode materials for a US factory.In Europe, where the battery industry is far ahead, Volkswagen with Belgian materials company Umicore. In September, Redwood Materials, a company that may Recycled battery materials, announced that it would also get into the cathode manufacturing business, with plans to build a factory in the US that would produce enough cathodes for 5 million electric vehicles by 2030. It’s a start, says Srinivasan: “For every announcement that’s been made, it’s been fantastic. Now we just need to add 20 more.”
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