Coretec Group Inc (CRTG)

[Quikshft]

There are a lot of clues about what Coretec is doing that is different from others in the transcript from the last meeting on the 14th. I also keep an eye on Amprius because they are already in the market with a battery. I have questions however - if a silicon anode has ten times the energy density of a graphite anode, why then does the Amprius 100% silicon anode only produce about two times the energy density of a typical graphite anode? Amprius won't tell you, but we don't know what the Endurion energy density specs are either.

Rather than just telling you to read the conference call transcript, I'm going to post a portion of it here for easy reference. As you go through what was said look for words from M Tokarz that point to the uniqueness of the Coretec battery and what they ARE doing different from everyone else. I will BOLD some of the items I feel are notable.

Our goal with Endurion is to develop a silicon-based active anode material with our own engineered SEI layer. Active material refers to the parts of the battery that contribute to the ability to provide energy, namely the cathode and the anode. It is so named to differentiate from inactive materials like the separator and battery housing.
Additionally, SEI stands for solid electrolyte interface. This is the layer of material between the active anode material and the electrolyte, and it currently causes significant issues with silicon. I will be explaining our unique approach to the SEI layer later in this presentation. We have been developing prototypes of the active anode material in our lab and we’ve also filed initial IP and continue to file new
inventions as appropriate. What is the unique value that Endurion brings to lithium ion batteries, and particularly those that are already incorporating silicon? Specifically, we are increasing energy density, we are contributing to faster charging, and our engineered SEI solution will result in longer lifespans. Why silicon? It is important to note that graphite continues to be the anode material of choice in lithium ion batteries. That being said, silicon has 10 times the charge capacity. Thus, even small amounts of silicon added to graphite could have a profound effect on the overall capacity, or energy density. However,
there are known challenges with silicon, most of which stem from the fundamentally different way that lithium interacts with silicon as compared to graphite.
Lithium’s interaction with graphite is via a mechanism known as intercalation. Intercalation describes the process by which individual lithium ions will insert themselves between the sheets of graphite. By contrast, lithium interacts with silicon with stronger chemical bonds that cause the silicon to expand. The more lithium is added, the more the expansion.
A fully lithiated silicon material will have expanded 300% to 400%. The term lithiated here refers to silicon material that has fully interacted with lithium ion. This term is closely related to similar terms like lithiation, delithiation, etc. This expansion causes pulverization, which causes the anode to lose contact with the current collector . It also causes issues with continual formation and destruction of an SEI, or a solid electrolyte interface layer. The SEI issues cause degradation of the battery that results in shorter cycle life.
Current attempts to solve the expansion and SEI issues include structural design, artificial SEI, electrolyte additives and prelithiation. The Coretec solution involves the use of structural design and artificial SEI, thus lessening the need for special electrolytes and prelithiation. With regards to structural design, it is important to understand Coretec’s unique approach in the industry. Most of the industry uses top-down methods that include ball milling and traditionally results in particles that are approximately 100 nanometers. Ball milling is a common process whereby the material of choice is added to a mill that contains metal balls that are used for grinding. As the mill is rotated, these balls act via centrifugal forces to break up the material that was in the chamber. This is a very standard mechanical approach to obtaining small particles. In contrast, we are using chemical methods to build our materials from the bottom up. There are many differences between the top-down and bottom-up approaches that are indicative of the fundamental differences in mechanical versus chemical approaches. The most important difference is that the bottom-up approach allows us to do the proper functionalization, or chemical reactions, in such a way that we have tight control over the size and surface of these particles, in a way that is not possible with ball mill particles, thus allowing us to create our particles with an inherent engineered SEI of our choosing.
life

I feel the engineered SEI layer is the greatest differentiator between Coretec and the others like Amprius who are designing silicon anode batteries. Amprius will throw out terms like improved this or that and not really give you any figures to compare with. I remember reading something where they stated they had improved cycle life to 'hundreds' of cycles. That's not adequate - you need cycle life to be in the thousands for decent return on an EV battery. Bottom line is that we need to wait for some sort of indication from Coretec on what the Endurion battery is capable of. Then hopefully they will have a partner who is quick and agile enough in their manufacturing to incorporate the changes that are needed to pump out batteries using Endurion tech and get something out there and in use. Not sure how soon that can happen, Coretec is not providing timelines and they miss most of the targets when they do give them.