Sulphur Crystal Battery Pioneer Opens Technology Centre

Berlin-based battery company Theion has set up its new technology centre in the Adlershof Science and Technology Park, one of Germany's largest technology clusters. This is where the company intends to develop its innovative, sustainable crystal batteries.

Theion's battery innovation is based on sulphur – a material that is available in large quantities worldwide without harmful and intensive mining (a by-product of industrial processes) – and is an efficient replacement for cathode materials that are associated with high processing costs and metal contents of nickel and cobalt.

Not only is sulphur 99 per cent cheaper to source than the cathode materials used in existing, modern lithium-ion batteries, Theion battery cells also require significantly less energy to produce – from raw material to finished cell.

Theion's patented sulphur crystal battery chemistry aims to triple the energy density at just one third of the cell cost and one third of the carbon footprint of current battery technology. This breakthrough will enable lightweight, carbon-neutral and sustainable batteries that are set to transform electric mobility and stationary storage, according to the company.

The technology centre's new laboratories include a fully equipped synthesis lab, glovebox lab and cyclisation lab, as well as a semi-automated assembly line of 1 MWh capacity pouch cells to produce customer samples.

Theion has recently announced a breakthrough with its patented lithium metal anode chemistry, which has achieved 2,000 charge and discharge cycles in tests by a leading independent research institute in Germany, paving the way for safe batteries with high energy density and fast charging capability.

In the current Series A financing round, Enpal is one of the main investors with the aim of combining PV systems with Theion's competitive energy storage battery.