Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

Shape the energy revolution with your innovative battery materials: Cathode and anode materials as well as solid oxide electrolytes for increased capacity and stability through Glatt powder synthesis and fluidized bed technology

More capacity and stability through synthesis of LMNO powders, silicon-carbon composites as anode materials, coated cathode materials for electrolyte protection, LLZO materials for solid oxide electrolytes, and others Optimization to dust-free, free-flowing, homogeneous granules. Particle sizes: Nano to macro. 

Designing customized anode and cathode materials and solid electrolytes by Glatt powder synthesis

Do you want to advance battery technology with new or improved raw materials? Commercial raw materials do not meet your expectations in terms of capacity and long-term stability? Or do you have a promising material approach that only works on a laboratory scale?

Glatt powder synthesis is a versatile tool for the development and industrial production of innovative battery materials.

The high flexibility of this technology and the special conditions in the pulsating hot gas stream let you produce active materials and solid electrolytes in just one process step.

To produce a homogeneous powder e.g. a cathode material or solid electrolyte, a solution of the raw materials in the desired stoichiometry is made. This approach allows even the smallest amounts of doping elements to be homogeneously incorporated into your final product after the drying and formation process within the pulsating gas stream. Hereby, performance characteristics such as capacity and charging behavior of modern battery materials can be influenced in a quality-enhancing manner. The particularly high heat and mass transfer rates of this process can also be used to calcine powders to achieve the desired crystalline structure. The formation of hard aggregates will be prevented by the pulsating hot gas stream.

For protection of anode or cathode materials against aggressive electrolytes, the surface of the particles of your material can be refined by a coating. For such a core-shell coating, the coating material is dissolved in a suspension, sprayed and dried. Process temperatures in the range between room temperature and 1300 °C offer an almost inexhaustible choice of core-shell combinations.

Refining battery raw materials by Glatt fluid bed technology

Do you have issues with the homogeneity of your battery raw materials? Is the processability of materials you are using right now constrained by segregation, dust formation or poor pourability?

To improve the processability of powder mixtures, spray agglomeration in the fluid bed can counteract segregation in subsequent processes, packaging or transport. By spraying on a binder solution, the surface of the mixture is wetted and fine particles agglomerate into larger granules or are adhered to coarser particles. However, if the shape and size are too different, fine particles can alternatively be sprayed on together with the binder solution and thus be homogeneously distributed over the coarser components. Homogeneity and pourability of your raw materials will be improved, dust formation prevented.

But fluid bed technology does offer additional options that will help you to optimize your raw materials or their precursors to create exactly the material, you need for your application. Based on the setup and process parameters you can use the same technology either for spray drying or to bring a functional or protective layer on your powder material. Spray granulation can be used to create pourable, compact and stable precursor granules out of suspensions. These granules can be later heat treated in a kiln, or – utilizing its better heat and mass transfer rates – in a high temperature fluid bed system.

Develop and test your material in the Glatt Technology Center in Weimar

At the Glatt Technology Center in Weimar, we work with you to determine the optimum process conditions for your product in feasibility trials for product development. Various laboratory facilities and comprehensive analytical equipment are available for this purpose. On our pilot plants, we optimize the process and scale it up reliably to a stable and economical production scale. The results from this form the basis for the design and construction as well as the erection of your fluid bed or spouted bed plant, tailored to your requirements. As an alternative to our own process technology, we offer you the outsourcing of your production by means of contract manufacturing at Glatt.

Visit our website and get more information about:

• Case study: Cathode material
• Case study: Silicon-based anode material
• Case study: Solid oxide electrolytes
• Case study: Coated cathode materials to increase long-term stability