2022 was the first year investment in clean energy matched investment in fossil fuels according to @BloombergNEF’s @albertwycheung 2023 could be the first year clean energy investment surpasses fossil fuel investment 🤯 #bnefsummit

Silicon represents the biggest change to lithium-ion anodes in 30 years Silicon will improve energy density on a Wh/kg and Wh/l basis But silicon's big promise is in reducing anode costs, in order to realise this silicon costs will need to be <$70/kg #battchat

This paper has a nice description of MOFs as separators/hybrid electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries

Another interesting suggestion for the 'condensed matter' electrolyte are metal organic frameworks (MOFs) These materials can enable high lithium transport and limit lithium dendrite growth. They also self-assemble, similar to the description in CATLs press release #battchat

What do we not know yet is the cost of these cells, if any critical materials are used, how developed the supply chains for these components are, what the cycle life of the cells are.

The official press release:

What are the implications? The cells are slated for us in aviation initially, with an automotive cell under development. If using conversion materials, power density is likely to be much lower than current lithium-ion. So even when used in EVs....

3. It uses innovative anode materials. If using a conversion cathode material, the anode will most likely have to contain the lithium when the cell is assembled. So it likely either uses a lithium metal anode, or a lithium alloy.

...it probably requires the use of a hybrid battery pack that can use power orientated cells for acceleration and breaking and energy orientated cells for distance. So lucky CATL has its new Qilin battery pack! This would be a similar approach to that taken by @OurNextEnergy1

What do we know about CATL's "Condensed Matter" battery? Not a lot! But we can speculate a 🧵 1/8 #battchat

2. It has a condensed state electrolyte To me this is could be a gaseous electrolyte that can be condensed to a liquid, or even a solid, at relatively low pressures Companies like @South8Tech and @innolith have been working on these electrolytes for a number of years

1. It has an ultra-high energy cathode. To me this suggests some sort of conversion reaction material, like sulfur of iron sulfide. @SolidPowerInc showed successful results with iron sulfide back in 2021, so it is possible that CATL has also developed a similar material.