OSAKA

Motivation 

Solid-state batteries are considered a key technology for the next generation of high-performance, safe, and sustainable lithium batteries – particularly for applications in electric mobility and stationary energy storage. Through the use of sulfide-based solid-state electrolytes, significantly higher energy and power densities, faster charging times, and improved intrinsic safety can be achieved. At the same time, they enable the use of high-capacity anodes and more compact cell architectures.

Despite substantial progress in international research, major challenges remain in industrial implementation, particularly in scaling up material production, ensuring stability under manufacturing conditions, and integrating these materials into existing battery production processes.

Objectives and Approach

The goal of OSAKA is to enable the industrial-scale production of sulfide-based solid-state electrolytes in Germany, thereby establishing a key prerequisite for competitive all-solid-state batteries. Building on the results of the BMBF competence cluster FestBatt, material design, synthesis routes, quality assurance, and cell integration are systematically advanced toward pilot and production scale.

Within a close network of industry and research partners, the influence of raw material quality, particle morphology, and production environment is specifically investigated and validated in application-relevant pouch cells. In addition, scalable, energy- and cost-efficient manufacturing processes are being developed, along with robust raw material and process specifications, to facilitate their later transfer to industrial pilot lines.

Innovation and Perspectives

OSAKA bridges the gap between excellent fundamental research and industrial process development, thereby addressing one of the central innovation gaps in solid-state batteries. Novel, highly conductive, and environmentally stabilized solid-state electrolytes are developed, characterized, and integrated into demonstrator cells under realistic production conditions.

Key innovation potentials lie in increased tolerance to raw material impurities, targeted reduction of requirements for dry-room and inert-gas conditions, and in dry, solvent-free manufacturing processes. The project thus lays the foundation for the cost-effective mass production of sulfide-based solid-state electrolytes by the end of the decade and sustainably strengthens Germany’s technological sovereignty and competitiveness in the global battery market.