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HPQ Silicon (TSXV:HPQ) joins team developing silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries

Technology
TSXV:HPQ
26 May 2021 12:00 (EDT)
HPQ Silicon Resources

HPQ Silicon Resources (HPQ) is working with PyroGenesis (PYR) and the Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Centre (EMT) to research silicon-based materials.

The multidisciplinary team has set up a research project focused on the development of silicon-based materials as active anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

The project’s $500,000 budget is jointly funded by PRIMA Quebec, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, HPQ Silicon, and PyroGenesis.

HPQ Silicon and PyroGenesis will be responsible for the production of silicon materials from the PUREVAP Quartz Reduction Reactor and the PUREVAP Nano Silicon Reactor. The EMT will be responsible for the characterization of the materials and the optimization of the electrode formulations at laboratory scale.

The EMT is part of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) and is a centre of excellence in research, innovation, and graduate education.

Professor Lionel Roué of the INRS-EMT has developed a scientific program focused on the study of new electrode materials and will be leading the research project.

Despite intensive research efforts and significant investments in silicon battery materials, current manufacturing processes remain unscalable or even commercially unviable.

The nano silicon reactor PUREVAP, developed by PyroGenesis, solves the scalability and commercial viability issues of silicon for the lithium-ion battery market.

Bernard Tourillon, president and CEO of HPQ Silicon, commented on the announcement.

“HPQ’s Silicon R&D consortium has the depth and flexibility to meet the challenges,” he remarked, “as we strive to produce products for renewable energy storage participants and electric vehicle manufacturers, each of which is searching for cost-effective ways to increase the Silicon content of their batteries.”

Advances in silicon research indicate that by 2030, up to 30 per cent of the active anode materials for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles could be silicon. This research poises HPQ Silicon to become the anode silicon material supplier of choice for the battery industry.

PyroGenesis Canada Inc. (PYR) is up 4.84 per cent and is trading at $6.28 per share.

HPQ Silicon Resources Inc. (HPQ) is down 1.18 per cent on the day, trading at $0.84 per cent as of 11:24 am ET.

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