Joint development of cathode materials, silicon anode materials, and solid electrolytes for all-solid-state battery and establishment of global supply system
To reinforce competitiveness of next-generation secondary battery materials and expand business portfolio through partnership with Prologium
POSCO Holdings will be working with the Taiwanese all-solid-state battery company Prologium to develop core materials for next-generation secondary batteries.
POSCO Holdings signed an agreement on May 12 to invest in Prologium for co-developing core materials, including cathode materials, silicon anode materials, and solid electrolytes for all-solid-state batteries, and set up a global supply system.
Prologium, founded in 2006, developed an all-solid-state battery in 2012 and has been selling it to manufacturers of small IT devices as smartwatches. The company is also attracting investment from global investors, jointly developing all-solid-state batteries for electric vehicles with major automakers like the Daimler Group of Germany.
Executive vice president Kyung-sub Lee, the Head of the LiB Materials Business Project Team of POSCO Holdings said, “We aim to strengthen our competitiveness in next-generation secondary battery materials and further expand our business portfolio by teaming up with Prologium.”
Vincent Yang, Chief Executive Officer of Prologium Technology remarked, “POSCO Group is the ideal partner as its business comprises not only of cathode and anode materials but also raw materials for secondary battery materials as lithium, nickel and graphite.” “I believe the partnership will speed up the production of all-solid-state batteries and contribute to the stable supply of core materials,” he added.
In conventional secondary batteries, electricity is generated and charged through a liquid electrolyte between the positive and negative electrodes. All-solid-state battery is a next-generation battery using a solid electrolyte instead of the liquid one between the positive and negative electrodes and the separator removed, ensuring safety, and increasing energy density.
Meanwhile, POSCO Holdings is securing the competence to develop materials, including high-capacity cathode materials and silicon anode materials applicable to all-solid-state batteries. Earlier this year, it established POSCO JK Solid Solution, a solid electrolyte material manufacturing corporation, to reinforce the capacity for developing next-generation secondary battery materials.