Sila Nanotechnologies has all the trappings of a typical Bay Area startup: an open floor plan, conference rooms named for Atari games, healthy snacks in the kitchen. Two Portuguese water dogs, Ångström and Lumen, rule the boss’ office.
Typically, graphite anode materials are used in lithium ion batteries. But microscopic silicon particles have been emerging as a more efficient replacement for graphite–and at least one company thinks this technology will come to market within the next year.
Sila’s anode powder serves as drop-in-replacement for graphite powders when making anodes and could be used by every lithium-ion battery manufacturer in the world,” points out Yushin.
Researchers have spent decades working to advance the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries, but those gains usually only come a few percentage points at a time. So how did Sila Nanotechnologies make such a big leap?