New porous carbon additive for graphite anodes could make lithium-ion batteries safer for grid storage

Researchers at Lancaster University have spun out a company called Gavion to commercialize a porous, amorphous carbon material that can be added to graphite battery anodes. The material is highly conductive and its porous structure traps excess lithium ions, preventing dendrites that can short-circuit cells. In tests, adding just 1% of the material to a graphite anode improved capacity and survived thousands of charging cycles from -10C to room temperature. Gavion is targeting stationary energy storage, where safety and long life matter more than in consumer electronics. The company can currently produce 50g batches, enough for pouch cells. At present, making enough additive for a kilogram of graphite costs about GBP 20, which is not economically viable at scale. Scaling up to kilogram batches should cut reagent costs, and the team is also testing the material with sodium-ion batteries and recycled graphite anodes. This matters for grid-scale batteries because small changes to existing manufacturing lines are easier to adopt than entirely new cell chemistries. If costs come down, an anode additive like this could improve the safety and lifetime of storage systems that support renewable energy deployment.