Coherent Receives Multi-Million Dollar Grant To Accelerate Lithium-Sulfur Battery Chemical Immobilization Technology Development

Coherent announced that the company has been selected to receive a multi-million dollar grant under the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Fiscal Year 2023 Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) Program Broad Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA-0002893). The funding will accelerate the development of Coherent's proprietary lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery chemical immobilization technology to meet the requirements of next-generation electric vehicles (EVs).
The innovation behind sulfur fixation builds on more than a decade of Coherent research to make sulfur cathodes and Li-S batteries a commercial reality," said Rob Murano, senior director of product development and commercialization. This selection recognizes the unique ability of Coherent's technology to unlock the potential of the sulfur cathode - storing more energy at a lighter weight at a lower cost."
In this three-year project, Coherent will use U.S. Department of Energy funding to optimize its proprietary immobilized sulfur materials and cathodes for electric vehicles.Coherent will build demonstration batteries with the goal of exceeding the energy density of today's best-in-class electric vehicle batteries while retaining more than 80 percent of their original capacity after 1,000 charge cycles.
The design and manufacture of stabilized sulfur-based cathodes has long been a goal of battery researchers because of the higher performance and lower cost of sulfur compared to current cathode materials, such as nickel and cobalt. As a result, sulfur cathodes have the potential to secure the supply chain and support the strong and growing electric vehicle market.