Insights
Insights
A monthly summary of research, policy and company news in lithium metal and solid-state batteries.
The US designates lithium metal a critical material
A $500M DOE programme routes money into domestic lithium metal supply, a PVD thin-film specialist takes $50M, and separators start doing work that used to belong to the anode.
Anode-free research adds a third stage: recovery
Forty-five institutions redefine the anode-free framework around reviving dead lithium, interface layers become bifunctional, and graphite dependency turns into a supply-chain strategy.
Dendrites turn out to be a mechanics problem
A Nature paper from Max Planck identifies hydrostatic stress, not electron leakage, as the root cause of dendrite penetration — and pack-level validation replaces cell-level claims.
Four ways to make a lithium metal anode, compared
An academic review puts extrusion, molten infusion, electroplating and vapour deposition side by side — and the anode-free market gets its first credible commercialisation window.
The industry stopped competing on records and started competing on reproducibility
Pilot lines on three continents, AI in-line metrology, and a thirteen-market view of where vacuum deposition is actually being bought.
Fast charging, solid-state scale-up, and a supply chain in motion
Five-minute charging claims, the first national solid-state standard, 820 GWh of deferred North American capacity, and why interfacial resistance is becoming the battleground.