Australian company Sicona Battery Technologies has secured a series of international patents and patent families to further position it towards becoming a global battery materials manufacturer.
Sicona CEO and cofounder Christiaan Jordaan announced the patents the company purchased in collaboration with fellow Australian battery technology company Gelion. These include patents under development by US-listed AUD 90 billion company 3M and the London-listed EUR 9.2 billion company, Johnson Matthey, since 2005.
Gelion acquired the lithium sulphur patents owned by Johnson Matthey, while Sicona secured 73 patents and 11 patent families relating to silicon-alloy anode materials, electrode design, pre-lithiation, and associated intellectual property.
“For an Australian battery materials company to acquire what is considered some of the most advanced silicon anode materials technology is quite remarkable really,” Jordaan said. “This is silicon metal-based technology, which is the core of what we do at Sicona. We are cementing ourselves as the global leaders in silicon metal-based anode technology.”
The silicon anode technology from 3M was spearheaded in 2005 at Dalhousie University. In 2012, the company announced a further investment in silicon anode materials in the form of a USD 4.6 million dollar-matched grant from the US Department of Energy.
In 2017, 3M sold its NMC cathode technology to Umicore to focus on silicon anodes and completed an exit from the battery materials sector in 2019 through the sale of its silicon anode tech to Johnson Matthey.
However, in November 2021, Johnson Matthey decided to exit the battery materials sector.
“We are the beneficiaries of two major global companies electing to exit the battery materials industry at exactly the wrong time,” Mr Jordaan said.
“An Australian company now holds the keys to the castle on cost-effective, scalable silicon anode technologies,” the Sicona CEO added.
Sicona recently raised AUD 22 million in a Series A funding round, which will help the company support its development plans both in Australia and the United States.
