US-headquartered materials science company Dow has added Voltricell, its first material platform designed specifically to promote optimal electrochemistry inside the cell, to its existing portfolio of battery solutions.
Voltricell is a brand-new suite of materials designed to optimise battery manufacturing processes and improve the performance of today’s battery technologies, as well as emerging sodium-ion, silicon-anode and solid-state battery technologies.
Dow’s Voltricell platform combines battery cell materials for electrodes, separators, coatings and packaging, including binders, dispersants, rheology modifiers, surfactants and specialty additives, which, according to Dow, can enable manufacturers to improve energy density, cycle life and charging speed while scaling production across different chemistries.
Joel McDonald, Global Technical Director for Dow MobilityScience, said that the battery industry had a multitude of chemistries and cell manufacturing strategies in use and under development. By combining deep materials science expertise with application development capabilities and global technical assistance through its global MobilityScience Studios, Dow supports battery manufacturers in accelerating innovation from cell design to system-level integration.
Dow also offers its latest materials for battery fire protection, including Voraforce TP1415 Polyol, a polyurethane (PU) resin system for manufacturing lightweight fibre-reinforced composites designed to provide impact resistance, corrosion resistance and flame-retardant performance in PU pultrusion applications; Dowsil EF-6559 silicone foam, a two-part, expanding foam for narrow, complex shapes within battery assemblies that forms a protective ceramic layer when exposed to high heat and is designed to support thermal management and electrical insulation in high-volume series production; and Dowsil FC-2024 coating, a one-part RTV coating applied to battery housings, enclosures and lids to provide fire protection by forming a hard protective ceramic layer during a thermal event. The coating is intended for cylindrical, prismatic or pouch-based battery systems.