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Murray Ward
Critical Resources has scored a significant third-party endorsement for its solid-state battery program, after its optioned dry supersonic deposition, or โDSDโ, cathode technology was validated in the peer-reviewed international journal Electrochimica Acta.
The company says the publication provides independent, peer-reviewed confirmation of the innovative manufacturing process at the heart of its licensable intellectual property.
DSD is a solvent-free and binder-free manufacturing method that builds a battery cathode in a single dry step.
The technique removes the costly, toxic and energy-intensive stages of conventional โslurryโ based manufacturing, which requires mixing materials with solvents and binders before coating them and baking them in large, high-temperature ovens.
โThe benefits of dry-solvent-free manufacturing are well understood in the industry.โ
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither
Early, unoptimised trials published in the journal showed the DSD-made cathode produced an output of 154 milliamp-hours per gram, which is close to the theoretical capacity of the lithium-iron-phosphate material used.
Impressively for an early-stage test, the cathode also retained 85 per cent of its capacity over 500 cycles with a coulombic efficiency – the percentage of initial charge discharged – above 99.5 per cent, demonstrating strong durability.
Criticalโs strategy is to commercialise its suite of battery technologies through licensing rather than by manufacturing cells itself.
The company says the fresh vote of confidence de-risks the intellectual property and strengthens its position in discussions with potential partners in the defence, industrial and infrastructure markets that require highly reliable assets designed to operate continuously without failing.
Critical Resources managing director Tim Wither said: โPeer review is a high bar, and clearing it helps de-risks the process that sits at the core of our evaluation program, it is exactly the kind of third-party endorsement that matters when you are talking to potential partners to move this technology forward.โ
Critical says the next stage is to integrate its proprietary sulphur-free solid electrolyte, produced through the DSD process, to create a full solid-state cell.
Next on the agenda is performance testing of full-format pouch cells – flexible aluminium – laminated batteries used as commercial-scale prototypes – followed by process optimisation and trials to integrate the companyโs solid-state electrolyte into the same dry DSD manufacturing process.
All of the companyโs current work is being conducted by its partner, the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, under the umbrella of the US Government-backed Centre for Solid State Electric Power Storage.
While the battery tech continues its advance in the lab, Criticalโs exploration arm is focused on a diversified portfolio of critical and precious metals projects, including its flagship Mavis Lake lithium project in Ontario, Canada, which hosts an 8-million-tonne resource.
The company is also working on a high-grade tungsten discovery in New Zealand that returned a stunning 16.63 per cent tungsten trioxide channel sample, alongside a growing portfolio of highly prospective gold projects and the Halls Peak base metals project in New South Wales.
Criticalโs strategy is to tackle the green energy transition from both ends of the supply chain. On the one hand, it is developing what could be a game-changing, cleaner, cheaper and more efficient way to manufacture batteries, and on the other, it is out in the field hunting for the very metals essential to this new economy.
With a peer-reviewed validation of its battery tech now in the bag, a clear pathway to integrating it into a full solid-state cell, and high-grade dirt under its boots in multiple tier-one jurisdictions, Critical looks to be shaping up as a uniquely diversified player in the critical minerals ecosphere.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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