On February 18, Golden Feather produced and delivered a new batch of mass-produced products to customers to help improve the performance of customers' end products.

Golden Feather’s customers come from the field of drones, and its products are anode-free lithium metal batteries (AF-LMB).

According to reports, Golden Feather has previously (announced on January 24, 2024) received the first batch of commercial orders for negative-electrode batteries for drones. This order is an additional order after customers are satisfied with the use.

The reason is that after continuous customer testing and application exploration of Golden Feather's negative-electrode lithium metal batteries, it was discovered that Golden Feather's products have the highest energy density (>460Wh/Kg), volumetric energy density, cycle stability, HPPC (hybrid pulse capability) features) and other aspects have met or exceeded expectations!

Lithium metal battery ultra-high specific energy

Lithium metal batteries (LMB) are also called metal lithium batteries in the market, but the former is a professional title.

To increase the energy density of current power batteries by an order of magnitude, lithium metal batteries are recognized as the best choice.

Lithium metal batteries are a battery technology route that uses lithium metal as the negative electrode. The capacity of lithium metal is 3860mAh/g, which is about 10 times that of graphite. It can be matched with existing high-capacity cathode systems.

High-energy-density lithium metal batteries, with their material advantages, exceed the energy density of conventional lithium batteries by more than 40% (can easily reach more than 400wh/kg). The long battery life can be applied in smart wearable fields, smart watches, drones, etc. As technology continues to mature, lithium metal batteries can also be used in new energy vehicles, electric ships, electric aircraft and other fields.

On the road to lithium metal batteries, there are currently two main paths taken. One is from liquid lithium-ion batteries to solid-state lithium batteries (using solid electrolytes and graphite or silicon-carbon materials for the negative electrode), and then to solid-state lithium metal batteries. The other is from liquid lithium-ion batteries to semi-solid lithium metal batteries. , and then further to solid-state lithium metal batteries.

Golden Feather chose the latter.

Anode-free upgrade for lithium metal batteries

Anodeless lithium metal battery is an upgraded version of lithium metal battery. During the charging process, lithium ions combine with electrons on the surface of the negative electrode copper current collector to deposit a layer of lithium metal; during the discharge process, lithium deposited on the negative electrode copper current collector The metal dissolves and returns to the positive electrode, and so on.

Since anode-free lithium metal batteries eliminate the use of initial anode active materials, they can increase battery energy density to the limit while also reducing battery production costs. It is an ideal high-energy-density system.

However, without the protection of a stable host material on the negative electrode side or the compensation of excess active lithium, the irreversible loss of lithium resources caused by the generation of "dead lithium" and side reactions between the electrolyte and metallic lithium during the cycle will directly Reflected in the loss of battery capacity. Therefore, the cycle life of negative electrode-free metal lithium batteries faces greater challenges.

Golden Feather's approach is to focus on solving the problems of lithium dendrite growth and powdering, and to increase the cycle life of lithium metal battery products to more than 600 cycles. At the same time, Golden Feather realizes the construction of anode-free lithium metal battery system through in-situ lithium supplementation, and achieves the stability of the interface SEI film through optimization of the battery system based on semi-solid state, thus enabling the industrialization of anode-free lithium metal battery.

More lithium metal battery companies

In addition to Golden Feather, there are also some companies that choose to develop and produce lithium metal batteries.

SES is the leader among them. According to Weike.com Lithium Battery, SES was established in 2021. When it was established, it demonstrated the first car-grade lithium metal battery product "Apollo lithium metal battery". According to preliminary test data, the battery capacity reaches 107Ah, the energy density is 417Wh/kg, 935Wh/L, but the weight is less than 1kg (only 0.982kg).

In terms of safety performance, SES announced a third-party test report for lithium metal batteries - including acupuncture, overcharging, external short circuit, and thermal stability. The results were all passed.

SES is jointly developing lithium metal batteries with GM, Hyundai, Honda and other car companies. SAIC, Geely, General Motors, Hyundai, Honda, Foxconn, Tianqi Lithium and other companies have invested in SES.

Founded in 2018, Mengwei New Energy is also one of the representatives of the new generation of lithium metal battery companies. In September 2022, a globally competitive automated lithium metal battery manufacturing production line of Alliance New Energy announced its official launch in Hefei. The production line launched this time has achieved a major breakthrough in the energy density of lithium metal batteries of 500Wh/kg.

In June 2023, South Korea's LG New Energy revealed the company's next-generation battery technology storage direction and stated that it will continue to invest in the research and development of lithium-sulfur batteries and lithium metal batteries based on liquid electrolytes to overcome the energy density limitations of current lithium-ion batteries.