"Solid-state batteries have the potential to replace conventional battery technology," Carsten Glanz is convinced. The Group Leader for Application Technology of Functional Materials at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA is working with a team of scientists and two medium-sized companies from Baden-Württemberg to create the conditions for the automated production of high-quality electricity storage systems.
Compared to the lithium-ion batteries commonly used today, solid-state batteries have several advantages: They are safer - because no liquid electrolyte is required, nothing can leak and ignite. They also have a higher energy density and a longer service life.
The technology is still in its infancy. "Solid-state batteries with a ceramic electrolyte layer, for example, have so far only been produced on a laboratory scale. The scalability - i.e. the transfer of the results to large-scale production - is still completely unclear," explains Glanz.
In the project "Research into new mixing and sintering technologies for graded ceramic solid-state electrolytes", EMSig for short, the engineer is now working with two industrial partners to develop and optimize a process chain for the large-scale production of batteries with ceramic solid-state electrolytes: "At the IPA, we have a lot of experience with automation in battery production through the Centre for Digital Battery Production, and our cooperation partners have in-depth expertise in the production and functionalization, handling and sintering of powders."
