Empa spin-off BTRY
Rechargable revolution
The Empa spin-off BTRY wants to revolutionize rechargeable batteries: Their thin-film batteries are not only safer and longer-lasting than conventional lithium-ion batteries, they are also much more environmentally friendly to manufacture and can be charged and discharged in just one minute. For now, the battery is very small, but the founders have big plans for it.
![https://carboquant.empa.ch/documents/56164/25866910/EQ80+BTRY+870.jpg/62e57352-4a9f-40ce-8b42-243102f84088?t=1687438147000](https://carboquant.empa.ch/documents/56164/25866910/EQ80+BTRY+870.jpg/62e57352-4a9f-40ce-8b42-243102f84088?t=1687438147000)
Lithium-ion batteries are everywhere: from smartphones and laptops to cars and even satellites. It is currently our most mature battery technology. Yet it is not ideal for many applications. Lithium-ion batteries lose capacity with every charge and discharge cycle, charge relatively slowly and only work well in a narrow temperature range.
According to Empa researchers Abdessalem Aribia and Moritz Futscher from Empa’s Thin Films and Photovoltaics laboratory, it is time to rethink battery technology. Compared to other existing or developing technologies, their lithium metal-based solid-state battery brings some significant advantages: It can be charged and discharged within one minute, lasts about ten times as long as a lithium-ion battery, and is insensitive to temperature fluctuations.
In addition, unlike lithium-ion batteries, it is not flammable – a major advantage, because today’s rechargeable batteries are considered hazardous materials. Incorrect handling or damage to a conventional lithium-ion cell can lead to a fire that releases toxic gases and is extremely difficult to extinguish. “By contrast, if you cut our battery with scissors,” Aribia says, “you will simply get two batteries that are half as good.”
Aribia and Futscher now want to bring this promising technology to market. Together with lab head Yaroslav Romanyuk, they have founded a spin-off called BTRY (pronounced “battery”). Aribia, who takes on the role of CTO at BTRY, had never previously thought of starting his own company. CEO Moritz Futscher, on the other hand, has been interested in startups since he was a student. The two researchers have been working together on the battery project for years and are a well-established team. “We are convinced that our product can offer real added value,” says Futscher.
High-precision manufacturing
![https://carboquant.empa.ch/documents/56164/25866910/EQ80+BTRY+435.jpg/40bf43bf-324c-479f-a295-2ef735197a60?t=1687438141000](https://carboquant.empa.ch/documents/56164/25866910/EQ80+BTRY+435.jpg/40bf43bf-324c-479f-a295-2ef735197a60?t=1687438141000)
The new battery is a so-called thin-film solid-state battery. The technology itself is not new: Such batteries have been known since the 1980s. However, due to the very low mass of their thin-film components – the entire cell is only a few micrometers thick – they have been able to store very little energy so far. Futscher and Aribia have succeeded in stacking the thin-film cells on top of each other, increasing their capacity.
This makes the battery very promising for commercial applications. The thin-film cells are manufactured using vacuum coating: The desired materials are atomized in a vacuum chamber to form individual atoms, which are then deposited in a precisely controlled layer on the target substrate. “Such manufacturing methods are currently used on a large scale in the production of semiconductor chips and glass coatings,” Futscher says. “That’s an advantage for us, because the machines and know-how to manufacture our battery are largely in place already.”
The high-precision manufacturing method has an additional advantage: “In contrast to the traditional method of battery production, our method does not use toxic solvents,” explains Aribia. However, it also makes the thin-film battery more expensive. The researchers therefore see its application primarily in products where the battery only accounts for a small part of the overall cost of the device – for example, in smartphones and smartwatches or in satellites. “There, the advantages of our technology more than make up for the higher price,” Aribia states.
Wanted: Investors!
The researchers are not the only ones who believe their product has a lot of potential. BTRY was supported by Innosuisse and made it into the business incubator of the European Space Agency (ESA). In addition, Aribia received an Empa Entrepreneur Fellowship, which supports young researchers who want to found a company.
But before the first thin-film batteries launch into space or supply smartphones with electricity, there is still a lot of work to do, both on the administrative and on the technical side. In the meantime, the two founders are using the equipment and facilities at Empa’s Coating Competence Center to create bigger and more powerful battery prototypes in order to show potential investors that the technology is worth backing.
Over the next two years, the researchers want to increase both the surface area of the battery and the number of layers. “Currently, our batteries consist of only two layers of about 1×3 millimeters,” Aribia says. “Next, we want to make a battery of about one square centimeter with two to three layers. We can’t power a satellite with that yet – but we can very well show that our technology is scalable.”
Support for start-up founders
The Empa Entrepreneur Fellowship is awarded to Empa researchers who want to found a start-up based on their research. The fellowships are awarded on a competitive basis and include financial support for twelve months. Empa spin-offs and start-ups receive additional support in the two business incubators glatec in Dübendorf and Startfeld in St. Gallen.
Abdessalem Aribia
BTRY / Thin Films and Photovoltaics, Empa
Phone +41 58 765 4485
MH Futscher, L Brinkman, A Müller, J Casella, A Aribia & YE Romanyuk; Monolithically-stacked thin-film solid-state batteries; Communications Chemistry (2023); doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42004-023-00901-w
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Empa Quarterly#80 Accelerating research
The young people of today are the decision-makers of tomorrow. In this issue, the focus is therefore not (only) on materials and technologies, but also on the people who make them possible: Researchers, founders, apprentices and students. Through support at all professional and academic levels, these talents can reach new heights in science or enter the Swiss economy as urgently needed skilled workers.
Read the latest EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
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Empa Quarterly#81 Battery research
Being able to store energy is a central pillar of a sustainable energy system, since solar and wind energy are not always available in sufficient quantities when they are needed. Good batteries are indispensable for the energy transition, and thus for a more sustainable world. Empa researchers are developing batteries for different applications, from stationary energy storage to electromobility. They are also working on analyzing and recycling end-of-life batteries.
Read the latest EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
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Empa Quarterly#82 Mining the Atmosphere
To limit climate change, we need to compensate not only for future emissions, but also for historical ones. One solution would be the "atmospheric vacuum cleaner": we remove the excess CO2 from the atmosphere. But what do we do with it? Instead of extracting the carbon for polymers, medicines, fibers, fuels and the like from crude oil, we use atmospheric CO2. This is the simple – yet extremely challenging in technical terms – idea behind Empa's new research initiative, Mining the Atmosphere.
Read the EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
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Empa Quarterly#83 Perovskites: Versatile cristals
Over 180 years ago, a curious crystal was discovered in the Ural Mountains. Today, it has given rise to an entire class of materials that is of great interest to researchers: perovskites. What all perovskites have in common is their crystal structure, which gives them unusual properties. By changing the exact composition of the perovskite, scientists can control these properties. Empa researchers are using this promising material to develop solar cells, detectors and quantum dots.
Read the EmpaQuarterly online or download the pdf-version.
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