Dutch technology firm LeydenJar manufactures the world’s most energy dense anode.
Its next-gen battery technology could unlock immense potential in clean electrification, enabling enhanced performance in the consumer electronics market for devices like drones and smartphones, as well as the EV market.
Founded in 2016, LeydenJar has already secured €90m in funding – €18m in equity and €72m in debt, grants and subsidies – and is now raising a further €40m to scale the use of its pure silicon anodes among battery manufacturers.
“Our 100% silicon batteries are setting unparalleled performance standards,” co-founder and CEO Christian Rood tells Zag Daily.
“This technology is not just leading to better products, but it can also reduce reliance on imported batteries and create a stronger supply chain.”
A unique proposition
The thin film silicon layers used to create LeydenJar anodes were not invented by Rood, but by researchers at TNO: the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research as part of an effort to develop flexible solar panels. Due to the porous nature of this thin film silicon layer, this project was unsuccessful but the inventor quickly realised the film could instead be used to make anodes for batteries
“By replacing the existing graphite on copper anodes used in most batteries with silicon on copper, you can increase the energy density by 70%,” Rood explains
“The industry is averaging an improvement per year of around 3%, so this is a really big step.”
One of the key challenges when using silicon components is that the material expands and contracts, causing it to break after a limited number of uses. However, LeydenJar has found a solution. “Our silicon is grown in columns, which enables it to withstand the swelling and contraction, and therefore it remains intact.
Another unique quality of LeydenJar anodes is that they can be fitted to any style of cell and used by all battery manufacturers.
“We want to use pure silicon anodes in as many applications as possible, including drones, laptops, phones and electric vehicles,” Rood says.
“Our anodes are easy to integrate into cell production and can be utilised across a range of industries.”
Multiple applications
The use of energy dense silicon anodes will enable battery manufacturers to produce far smaller cells, meaning that LeydenJar’s technology has a wide range of potential applications.
For example, the firm is at the advanced testing stage with several professional drone developers and aims to go into production within the next 18 months.
“To increase range and payload the battery needs to be able to deliver power and energy and we have demonstrated how our anodes can deliver this,” Rood says.
“Energy to weight ratio is really important in drone manufacturing, but because it is made with silicon our anode is 10-times thinner than the industry standard and a lot lighter. It also has far greater energy density and can be charged from 0% to 80% in just over six minutes.”
LeydenJar has calculated that due to the nature of sourcing graphite for traditional anodes, its silicon alternative is 85% better for the environment, according to an independently tested and verified lifecycle analysis conducted by MinViro.
“Silicon is the second most abundant material on Earth after oxygen,” Rood explains.
Many of the attributes mentioned above also make LeydenJar’s anodes well suited to EV batteries.
“The added energy density allows us to reduce the size of the battery without compromising on range, while providing the same amount of energy,” continues Rood.
“A smaller battery means the car can be designed differently and more affordably. We are now working with a number of EV manufacturers on this.”
This same logic can be applied to technology such as wireless headphones: “Most of our current clients are in the consumer electronic space and it is where we will likely launch our services. But as we demonstrate our credibility, there will be much more demand from other sectors.”
Scaling up
After launching its first anodes, LeydenJar is hoping to raise a further €40m in a Series-B investment to ramp up production.
“Our priority is to finalise our first commercial plant in Eindhoven, which will allow us to manufacture 70 megawatt hours of anode foil,” Rood says.
“This will allow us to finalise our design projects with clients and to demonstrate our eligibility to be used in EV batteries. Then we want to build a second plant at gigafactory scale and that will likely be located outside of the Netherlands.”
The goal is that with two factories, LeydenJar can enable new product categories. Rood pointed to a past example of the iPhone which was enabled due to improvements in battery cell technology, a development he hopes to emulate.
“An improvement of 70% in energy density can lead to lots of new products being made available,” he continues.
“While this sounds very disruptive, we have a very collaborative model. We want to work with existing battery makers that can help us show their clients the game changing potential of our anodes.”
