DOE chooses Coherent for battery tech funding

On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced Pittsburgh-based Coherent Corp., would receive multimillion dollar funding to develop its chemical immobilization technology for lithium sulfur (LI-S) battery cells.

The funding, part of the DOE’s Fiscal Year 2023 Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) Program Wie Funding Opportunity, will provide Coherent with funds to optimize its patented immobilized sulfur materials and cathodes for the next generation of electric vehicle (EV) requirements. Under the three year program, Coherent will build demonstration cells that target energy densities exceeding today’s best EV batteries while retaining more than 80 percent of their original capacity after 1,000 recharging cycles.

“The innovations behind sulfur immobilization are based on more than a decade of research by Coherent to make sulfur cathodes and Li-S batteries a commercial reality,” said Rob Murano, Senior Director, Product Development and Commercialization. “This selection recognizes the unique ability of Coherent’s technology to unlock the potential of sulfur cathodes – storing more energy in less weight at lower cost.”

Officials said designing and manufacturing stable cathodes based on sulfur has been a goal of battery researchers for some time. Sulfur cathodes have the potential, officials said, to secure supply chains and support the EV market. Li-S batteries strengthen the supply chain because of the wide abundance and lower cost of sulfur. Sulfur is an attractive alternative to nickel and cobalt because of its supply and cost, and could substantially reduce the price per kilowatt-hour for a battery.

Coherent said using its technology, the company can produce sulfur cathodes that can hold a charge at nearly the theoretical limit for the material, and that the cathodes have proven to be cyclable.