2024 roadmap for sustainable batteries

Abstract

Modern batteries are highly complex devices. Not the least the cells contain many components – which in turn all have many variations, both in terms of chemistry and physical properties. A few examples; the active materials of the electrodes are coated on current collectors using solvents, binders and additives; the multicomponent electrolyte, containing salts, solvents, and additives to make it functional – or be a solid ceramic, polymer or a glass; and most often a separator, which can be glass fibres, polymeric, ceramic, composite, etc. Moving up in scale all these components are assembled in cells of different formats and geometries, coin cells and Swagelok cells for testing, and pouch, prismatic and cylindrical cells for application.
Given this complexity dictated by so many components and variations, there is no wonder that addressing the crucial issue of true sustainability is an extremely challenging task. How can we make sure that each component is sustainable? How can the performance needed be delivered using more sustainable battery components? What actions do we need to address battery sustainability properly? How do we actually qualify and quantify the sustainability in the best way possible? And perhaps most importantly; how can we all work – academia and battery industry together – to enable the latter to manufacture more sustainable batteries for a truly cleaner future?
This Roadmap assembles views from experts from academia, industry, research institutes, and other organisations on how we could and should achieve a more sustainable battery future. The palette has many colours; it discusses the very definition of a sustainable battery, the need for diversification beyond lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the importance of sustainability assessments, the threat of scarcity of raw materials and the possible impact on future manufacturing of LIBs, the possibility of more sustainable cells by electrode and electrolyte chemistries as well as manufacturing, the important role of new battery chemistries, and the crucial role of AI and automation in the discovery of the truly sustainable batteries of the future.