online, you kind of go, ‘You know what? Let’s use yesterday’s chemistry,’” Berdichevsky said.
But the transition to metal can construction could facilitate the move to silicon anodes in the near future. Pure silicon anodes can store around 50% more energy than traditional graphite anodes, but the material is prone to swelling. Companies like Sila have developed proprietary ways to manage that swelling within the material, but it still needs to be accounted for at the cell level.
“It definitely will help introduce silicon in these kind of devices,” Berdichevsky said. “It lets us push the performance limits more. We’ve always had these trade offs, and we have to manage the swell. You still have to do that, but you can push it a little bit more. It’s pretty revolutionary.”
