The global battery race is heating up, with Europe striving to secure its place amid strong competition. China’s ability to drive down costs and the U.S.’s Inflation Reduction Act have shifted investments, prompting Europe to reevaluate its strategies. How can Europe stay competitive? One answer lies in closing the gap between laboratory breakthroughs and industrial production.

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Innovation is abundant in Europe, but not all breakthroughs are suitable for large-scale production. Materials that perform exceptionally in controlled lab environments are often impractical for industrial processes due to sensitivity, toxicity, or handling challenges. For instance, a polymer electrolyte that excels electrochemically might be too brittle for roll-to-roll processing.

Slot-die coating technology plays a pivotal role in addressing these challenges, enabling researchers to precisely test materials under scalable conditions. FOM Technologies’ slot-die coaters are trusted by leading research institutes and companies worldwide to bridge the gap between lab and industrial scales. Our machines excel in delivering unmatched precision, repeatability, and adaptability, making them indispensable tools for battery R&D.

The high-precision engineering of FOM’s coaters ensures the ability to make uniform depositions without edge formation, hotspots, or other defects which are critical for testing and optimizing new electrode formulations and solid electrolytes. Repeatability guarantees that results are consistent across trials, enhancing reliability in material evaluation. Adaptability allows researchers to test diverse materials with varying properties, and investigate variations in slurry formulations, with a wide range of viscosities, making our coaters versatile solutions for evolving battery technologies.

Moreover, the pressure in academia to publish groundbreaking results can overshadow the importance of scalability. By publishing work on upscaling challenges and practical solutions, researchers can add valuable insights to the field. Novelty does not only lie in performance metrics; it also resides in developing processes that enhance yield, safety, and industrial applicability.

Many universities worldwide have already adopted FOM scalarSC or FOM vectorSC coaters in their research labs to assist researchers in developing larger and more efficient coatings of their materials. Or testing small amounts of novel materials without excessive wastage.

Piloting bridges the gap between research and commercialization. By conducting small-scale tests in universities or research institutes, innovators can reduce technical risks before companies commit to significant investments. Larger industrial-scale piloting takes this one step further, enabling processes to be tested under near-production conditions.

Slot-die coating, a technology often used in pilot-scale R&D, excels in transitioning ideas to industrial readiness. FOM Technologies’ advanced slot-die coaters are designed to handle a wide range of functional materials, making them invaluable for battery research. Whether testing new electrode formulations or solid electrolytes, this precise and scalable coating technology ensures that researchers are equipped to evaluate real-world feasibility.

Engaging with industry early in the research process is equally vital. Researchers can gain insights into real-world requirements through advisory boards, conferences, and partnerships. Questions like “What level of material toxicity is acceptable in production?” or “How do companies handle brittle materials at scale?” can guide innovation toward practical, industry-relevant outcomes.

At FOM, we’ve created a unique modular platform that bridges lab-scale battery R&D and large-scale production. FOM moduloR2R pilot-scale system meets all the needs of a piloting phase, offering options for multiple drying ovens, precise scalability evaluation, in-depth process insights, yield assessment, and in-situ quality control.

The Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), Norway’s leading energy research institution, uses FOM Technologies’ slot-die coating systems to advance their battery material validation and cell testing efforts. Jan Petter Mæhlen, Senior Scientist at IFE, notes that the transition to FOM’s advanced slot-die technology has enhanced their ability to produce larger, more uniform casts, and has helped align their research with industrial practices. IFE has both FOM arcRC and FOM moduloR2R in their new battery lab.

As Mæhlen states, “We have been able to perform validation of battery materials in a way that is much more relevant industrially. We can also make larger casts, which allows for more throughput and better statistics.”

 

Marta Koposova, Senior Engineer at IFE, highlights the flexibility and adaptability of FOM’s solutions, adding, “We strongly recommend FOM tools, as they offer a unique opportunity to create industrially relevant electrodes on a more realistic laboratory scale.”