NEO’s Silicon Technology Demonstrates Performance Effectiveness on Low-Cost, Metallurgical-Grade Silicon Microparticles

NEO Battery Materials Ltd. [TSXV: NBM, OTC: NBMFF]  announced thos afternoon that, in the latest test, NEO’s silicon nanocoating technology has successfully achieved to demonstrate effectiveness on low-cost, metallurgical grade silicon particles of micron-size (D50: 2.9μm), enabling a 6-minute (10 C-Rate) charge/discharge level without major capacity loss in the cell.

Following the previous successful integration of NEO’s silicon (Si) nanocoating technology in Si nanoparticles ranging from 50 nm to 100 nm, Dr. J. H. Park, Director and Chief Scientific Advisor of NEO, is pleased to announce that the additional capability to exhibit substantial performance effectiveness with metallurgical grade, micron-sized (μm) Si particles is a step-change for NEO due to the significant cost reductions from the Si microparticle range and the flexibility of applying NEO’s technology onto various Si particle sizes. On average, Si microparticles are 8 to 10 times cheaper compared to Si nanoparticles.

Despite retaining more than a 10 times higher specific capacity than graphite, Si material easily loses its energy retention and storage capacity due to high volume expansion and particle pulverization after minimal charging cycles. Nanosized Si could minimize its gradation pathway and partially solve this shorter life cycle problem, but the expensive cost of Si nanoparticles serves as a major bottleneck and issue for battery manufacturers and electric vehicle (EV) companies.

Due to more efficient process times and lean, inexpensive manufacturing environments, metallurgical-grade Si microparticles are highly cost-effective compared to Si nanoparticles, but performance issues at the microparticle level have hindered the widespread adoption.

“NEO is hence targeting on a two-track to develop and refine its technology on both Si microparticles and nanoparticles. The results shown in this test emphasize the potency of NEO’s Si nanocoating technology that can be applied to silicon with various particle sizes. Our technology’s flexibility of application, performance, and price competitiveness serve as the most crucial value propositions,” commented Spencer Huh, President and CEO of NEO.

NEO share price closed up $0.26 cents to CAD$1.00 on nearly 6m shares exchanging hands.