The solid state battery

A new basic technology.
Safer. Longer lasting. Greener.

By using the HPB solid state electrolyte developed by us, the performance of our battery will remain almost constant over its lifetime. No matter how heavy the battery is used. Our battery technology is safe because our HPB solid state electrolyte is non-flammable and the battery is non-explosive. No critical raw materials are needed for production. This also improves the environmental balance by more than half compared to conventional lithium-ion batteries.

The fifth generation of battery technology

The energy transition worldwide needs efficient storage technologies. In Germany, electricity production from renewable energies (especially wind and solar) has overtaken traditional electricity production from fossil fuels (especially coal, gas and uranium). In order for electricity production to be able to renounce fossil energy sources in the long term, electricity producers, grid operators and consumers need intermediate storage facilities.

The fifth generation of batteries:

1880 Lead-acid
1900 Nickel-cadmium
1980 Nickel-metal hydride
1990 Lithium-ion
2018 HPB solid-state battery

According to current calculations, the demand for buffer storage in Germany alone is 11.3 TWh.1 In order to cover this immense demand just once with batteries, about 87 gigafactories with an annual production of 5 GWh each would have to produce batteries for more than 25 years. Only then would it be possible to completely phase out fossil fuels in Germany by 2050.


As a new basic technology, our HPB solid-state battery makes an important contribution to this. The combination of its properties is a "game changer" and a success factor for the success of the energy transition. The characteristics of our HPB solid-state electrolyte have already been confirmed by independent research institutes. The precursor technology, which Prof. Dr Günther Hambitzer played a key role in developing on a liquid basis, has successfully completed more than 50,000 charging cycles to date and has been in use for grid stabilisation in the USA since 2017.


The top layer makes the difference: Conventional lithium-ion batteries age because a top layer forms on their anodes through charging and discharging. This grows over time and with each use, even faster the more intensively the battery is used. This growth of the top layer consumes capacity and increases the internal resistance, the performance of the battery decreases.


With our innovative battery technology, a very thin top layer forms during first charging. After that, it grows no further. Through the use of our patented HPB solid-state electrolyte, internal resistance remains virtually constant throughout the service life. No matter how much the battery is used.

The fields of application ↗ for our HPB solid-state battery are diverse and concern the generation, distribution and consumption of electricity.

Ilgmann, G. & Polatschek, K., 2019. Vom Zappelstrom. Grüne Energie braucht Speicher. Doch woher die nehmen? 
Link ↗ (Zugriff am 16.01.21)

A unique approach to scalable production

Numerous research groups worldwide are working on the development of solid-state batteries. The approaches being pursued differ primarily in the favoured battery chemistries. Current patent analyses list around 2,900 patent families dealing with solid ion conductors1. These can be grouped according to chemical similarity, with oxide and sulphide fixed ion conductors together accounting for around 80 % of cases.

Common to all these approaches, however, are major challenges in production. For example, oxide fixed ion conductors have to contend with high ion transfer resistances at the material boundaries between electrodes and electrolyte2. One exception is the HPB solid-state battery, which we have developed over 30 years of research. Here, the HPB solid electrolyte is formed directly in the cell from liquid starting materials. This means that central production problems for solid-state batteries can be avoided.

The use of liquid starting materials has another decisive advantage: it makes it possible to use established production technology in cell manufacture - technology that is used thousands of times in the manufacture of conventional lithium-ion batteries with liquid electrolyte. In this way, the production of our HPB solid-state battery can be scaled up without having to develop new production technologies specifically for this purpose.

1 Knowmade (2021): Solid-State Li-ion Batteries with Inorganic Solid Electrolytes patent landscape report. Link ↗ (Zugriff am 26.08.2022).

2 Fraunhofer ISI (2022): Solid State Battery Roadmap 2035+.
Link ↗ (Zugriff am 26.08.2022).

Technology comparison Li-ion batteries vs. HPB solid-state battery

The concrete benefits for the customer are: cheaper (because more durable), better performance (because no power loss), safer (because non-flammable electrolyte) and more environmentally friendly (because about 50 % better environmental balance). The combination of properties makes all the difference.1

1 HPB (2023): Spec Sheet. 
Link ↗.

Brief history of the company

The company

High Performace Battery Holding AG, based in Teufen/Switzerland, takes care of the group development as well as the financing of the business activities of the group. High Performance Battery Technology GmbH, based in Bonn/Germany, specialises in the research and development of high-tech batteries. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the AG.


History

The brains behind the research is Prof. Dr Günther Hambitzer. Our HPB solid-state battery is the result of 30 years of basic research by him and his scientific staff in various public and private research contexts. Prof. Dr Hambitzer has been responsible for technology development at our company since 2015. In 2010, he succeeded for the first time in producing battery cells that overcame the coupling of the increase in internal resistance to the decrease in capacity. Even then, the constant internal resistance of the battery cells in question led to a significantly longer service life with well over 30,000 full charge and discharge cycles.

 

Milestones

1986: Head of a research group for the evaluation of battery technologies, where Prof. Dr Hambitzer developed the basic idea for preventing battery ageing.

1998: Spin-off from the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal near Karlsruhe to transfer the new battery technology to production.

2009: Production of cells with which it was possible for the first time to break the link between the increase in internal resistance and the decrease in capacity.

2011: Prof. Dr Hambitzer leaves fortu AG, as investors wanted to launch the product, which was not yet finished at the time, on the market.

2013: Resumption of research activities by Prof. Dr. Hambitzer and further development of the precursor liquid-based technology into a solid state battery.

2018: Application for the patent on the solid state electrolyte as the basis of our solid state battery and founding of High Performance Battery Holding AG, which takes care of the development and financing of the group.

 

 

Hambitzer, G., 1995. Wiederaufladbares Hochenergiebatteriesystem mit neuem Funktionsprinzip. Witten: Hochschulschrift, Habilitation.

Zinck, L., Borck, M., Ripp, C. & Hambitzer, G., 2006. Purification process for an inorganic rechargeable lithium battery and new safety concepts. Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, Volume 36, Issue 11, November, p. 1291–1295.

Ripp, C., Hambitzer, G., Zinck, L. & Borck, M., 2009. SECONDARY BATTERIES – LITHIUM RECHARGEABLE SYSTEMS-Lithium Ion-Inorganic Electrolyte Batteries. In: Encyclopedia of Electrochemical Power Sources. s.l.:s.n.

Pszolla, C., 2011. Chemische Reaktionen in SO2 basierter Elektrolytlösung zur Charakterisierung von kurzschlussinduzierten Deckschichten auf LiCoO2. Witten: Hochschulschrift.