By spraying dry active material directly onto current collectors to form a battery electrode, AM Batteries’ technology is reported to eliminate needs for toxic solvents and energy-intensive dryers.
BILLERICA, Mass.—Dry battery-electrode (DBE) technology innovator AM Batteries reported that it was recognized in TIME magazine’s list of the Best Inventions of 2024. The company was named in the Manufacturing and Materials category for its unique Powder to Electrode™ dry-coating method, AM Batteries said in a release.
The annual list features “200 extraordinary innovations from around the world that are helping to change our lives,” the release said.
AM Batteries developed a technology that replaces the traditional solvent-based slurry-coating methods used to make electrodes. The AM Batteries process sprays dry active material directly onto current collectors to form a battery electrode. This method is said to eliminate the need for toxic solvents and energy-intensive dryers that are used to evaporate solvents from the finished electrodes.
As a turnkey equipment supplier, AM Batteries said that it enables battery manufactures to produce batteries that are cleaner and cheaper while eliminating toxic solvents.
As a turnkey equipment supplier for battery manufacturers, AM Batteries is “committed to advancing sustainable, high-performance battery manufacturing and building a robust ecosystem around dry coating technology,” according to the release. The company stated that it “enables battery manufactures to produce batteries that are cleaner and cheaper while eliminating toxic solvents.”
“It is an honor to be included in this year’s TIME Best Inventions of 2024,” said AM Batteries CEO Lie Shi, in a statement. “AM Batteries’ vision has always been to enable cheaper and cleaner batteries. To be included in TIME’s list validates the work that our team and partners have done to shape the future of the battery industry.”
The AM Batteries process is said to be unlike other electrode-manufacturing technologies that can only make thick or thin electrodes, in that it enables battery producers to make the right “energy versus power optimization choice.” Because the AM Batteries technology eliminates solvent recovery and electrode drying, it can reportedly reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of a battery plant by more than 40 percent.
“When considering just electrode manufacturing, the savings can reach a whopping 75 percent,” the company’s release stated. “Additionally, it reduces CAPEX by up to 40 percent and OPEX by over 50 percent. While AM Batteries is optimized for materials currently used in today’s battery production, it is also enabling tomorrow’s Na-ion and solid-state chemistries.”
In compiling this year’s list, TIME solicited nominations from TIME editors and correspondents from around the world in the fields of healthcare, AI, green energy, and more. TIME then evaluated each contender on key factors such as originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact.
Of the new list, the magazine’s editors write: “The result is a list of 200 groundbreaking inventions (and 50 special mention inventions)—including the world’s largest computer chip, a humanoid robot joining the workforce, and a bioluminescent houseplant—that are changing how we live, work, play, and think about what’s possible.”
The full list of TIME Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2024 may be seen here: time.com/best-inventions-2024.