BASF at The Battery Show Europe 2024: The chemistry to power up sustainable mobility

Between 18-20 June, BASF showcased its innovative power solutions at The Battery Show Europe 2024 in Stuttgart, Germany – Europe’s largest industry event brings together the battery and electric vehicle (EV) community combining real-world commercial and technical aspects. As a leading solution provider for various battery applications, BASF presented its range of products specifically targeted to enable advancements of battery technologies and future automotive mobility.

Battery materials are at the heart of lithium-ion batteries as they significantly determine their performance. BASF offers one of the broadest cathode active material (CAM) portfolios with a well-established position in key CAM technologies like NCA (nickel-cobalt-aluminum-oxide), NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese-oxide) and LCO (lithium-cobalt-oxide). By leveraging industry-leading R&D platforms and passion for innovation, BASF Battery Materials already today looks into future CAM products ranging from cost-efficient manganese-rich solutions to high-performance ultra-high nickel products, high-performance LMO (lithium manganese oxide) as well as CAM dedicated for sodium-ion applications. BASF also provides base metals sourcing and management to ensure a stable, responsible, and sustainable supply chain for the production of cathode active materials.

In addition, BASF’s portfolio also includes comprehensive battery recycling solutions in order to offer its customers recycled metals with a lower carbon footprint compared to virgin metals, thus helping to meet regulatory requirements. In March, BASF started operating its prototype metal refinery for battery recycling in Schwarzheide, Germany, to further improve the process of recovering valuable metals such as lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese and copper from end-of-life batteries and battery production scrap. It complements BASF’s existing CAM plant and the battery recycling plant to produce black mass, which is scheduled to start operations later this year. The portfolio addresses various customer requirements, including closed loop offerings and digital end-to-end solutions to set up regional recycling value chains.

Materializing eMobility ambitions with Elastollan® (TPU)

The increasing demand for a broader charging infrastructure for Electric Vehicles (EV) is driving the need for robust and lasting charging cables at home and on the road. Those cables need to withstand harsh environmental conditions and be rugged enough to hold up over time. To cope with these challenges BASF’s TPU Elastollan® are particularly suitable for cable sheathings ensuring a strong resistance to UV, weathering, ozone, and microbes. To make the charging process safe, cables should be made flame retardant without halogens, and must be coilable and flexible. Elastollan® further sets itself apart from other materials by being recyclable.

Long-lasting protection and performance with the right surface treatment and coatings

For optimal protection and enhanced performance across a wide range of platform designs and battery systems, BASF offers a range of innovative coating solutions. These solutions, spanning from pretreatment to e-coat, are instrumental in achieving the desired outcomes. A standout technology is Chemetall’s eco-friendly Oxsilan® thin film technology, which applies a uniform and protective layer on metal surfaces. When combined with CathoGuard® technology, this unique combination significantly bolsters corrosion protection, thereby improving the durability and performance of battery systems. BASF’s CathoGuard® portfolio further ensures comprehensive corrosion protection for multi-metal car bodies and components, including battery covers, ensuring that all vital components remain shielded from the damaging effects of corrosion.

In a next step of innovation, Chemetall is developing non-chrome surface treatment solutions for copper foil, which is used as anode current collector. Removing hexavalent chromium from the passivation process promotes both a safer and more sustainable future.

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Smoother processing with the right additives

High-performance processing additives empower battery cell manufacturers to overcome challenges in all aspects of battery cell manufacturing, such as conductive slurry preparation, improved performance and enable an enhanced runability on the coating lines. BASF’s portfolio of innovative processing additives provides suitable solutions to overcome current and future requirements and challenges, enabling a smoother and more efficient manufacturing experience.

Overcoming the limits of lithium-ion batteries

To achieve cleaner and more efficient batteries the need for high-performance materials increases. Despite improvements over recent years Lithium-ion batteries still offer room for technical improvement, particularly in terms of charge capacity. Licity® binders have been designed to overcome the current limits of the technology. The waterborne binders possess high colloidal stability, making them highly compatible with cobinders like CMC. In addition, they exhibit exceptional processability and superior coating behavior, as well as excellent mechanics and electrochemical performance. With these unique properties, Licity® binders enable an increased performance for Lithium-ion cells, contributing to the development of cleaner and more efficient batteries.

Extensive portfolio for the automotive industry

Modern vehicles are already heavily based on chemical products and solutions. BASF is the world’s leading chemical supplier to the automotive industry. The company cooperates closely with customers worldwide through its network across the regions. Supplying functional materials and solutions the company enables vehicles to be built more efficiently and with a lower environmental impact. But chemistry is set to play an even greater role in the future as it contributes significantly to solving the mobility challenges ahead. BASF expects the chemical content of cars to increase further as a result of developments in automotive industry with regard to sustainability, electromobility, new interior concepts, safety and comfort. Leveraging its broad portfolio of innovative technologies and solutions, BASF strives to empower automotive manufacturers and suppliers to create the next generation of vehicles that are safer, more efficient, and more environmentally friendly.