Battery Metals

By incorporating manganese into an all-inorganic perovskite solar cell, scientists have increased its efficiency and stability while keeping manufacturing costs low.

A research group in Japan has developed a material for creating more stable and efficient solar cells at low cost. They published their work in Advanced Energy Materials. Most solar cells are made of silicon panels which are expensive to produce.

Hence, scientists have been working on alternatives made from much cheaper perovskite structures. True perovskite, a mineral found in the earth, is composed of calcium, titanium and oxygen in a specific molecular arrangement. Materials with that same crystal structure are called perovskite structures.

Perovskite structures work well as the light-harvesting active layer of a solar cell because they absorb light efficiently. They can also be integrated into devices using relatively simple equipment. However, perovskite structures are often very unstable, deteriorating on exposure to heat.

This has hindered their commercial potential. The Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), Japan, led by Professor Qi Yabing, has developed devices using a new perovskite material that is stable, efficient and relatively cheap to produce. This material has several key features.

First, it is completely inorganic—an important distinction because organic components are usually not thermostable and degrade under heat. Since solar cells can get very hot in the sun, heat stability is crucial. By replacing the organic parts with inorganic materials, the researchers made the perovskite solar cells much more stable.

“The solar cells are almost unchanged after exposure to light for 300 hours,” said Dr. Liu Zonghao of OIST, who is a co-author of the paper. While all-inorganic perovskite solar cells tend to have lower light absorption than organic-inorganic hybrids, the OIST researchers doped their new cells with manganese. Manganese changes the crystal structure of the material, boosting its light harvesting capacity.

“Just like when you add salt to a dish to change its flavor, when we add manganese, it changes the properties of the solar cell,” said Liu. Finally, in these solar cells, the electrodes that transport current between the solar cells and external wires are made of carbon, rather than the usual gold. Such electrodes are significantly cheaper and easier to produce, in part because they can be printed directly onto the solar cells.

Fabricating gold electrodes, on the other hand, requires high temperatures and specialist equipment such as a vacuum chamber. The researchers intend to continue to improve the efficiency and durability of their solar cells, and are also developing the process of fabricating them on a commercial scale. Given how quickly the technology has developed since the first perovskite solar cell was reported in 2009, the future for these new cells looks bright.

Amplify Investments, the firm founded by Christian Magoon, has filed for two niche ETFs covering very different areas. The Amplify Advanced Battery Metals and Materials ETF and the Amplify Medical Opportunities ETF (HEAL) will both be actively managed.

Battery Metals & Materials

The battery metals and materials fund will target companies that mine, produce and recycle the metals and other materials used to create advanced battery technology such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese and graphite. The investment argument underlying the fund is based on the anticipated growth of the electric vehicle industry and similar technologies that rely on batteries, the prospectus says.

Component companies are selected from across the size spectrum and can include domestic and foreign companies, including depositary receipts and China’s A-shares. However, all securities must meet size and liquidity requirements. The prospectus notes the fund will initially weight its components equally.

The battery materials fund filing did not include a ticker.

Medical Opportunities

HEAL will focus on companies mainly in the health care industry that the fund’s managers expect will benefit from advances in the science and technology underlying modern medical care. That includes the treatment and curing of health problems such as disease, genetic conditions and pain management, among others, the prospectus says.

The fund’s managers will use a top-down investment approach to identify companies already well-positioned in the health care space to benefit from medical opportunities or that are expected to devote substantial resources to such opportunities. As with the battery materials fund, HEAL can include companies from around the world that meet its size and liquidity requirements.

Neither filing included an expense ratio, but both funds are slated to list on the NYSE Arca.

Investing News reported that the mining industry isn’t delivering enough oomph when it comes to minerals key to the production of electric vehicle batteries, according to Moody’s Investors Service. Metals like nickel are vital for the lithium-ion batteries used to power electric cars but the base metal, and others like copper and cobalt, has seen headwinds through 2018.

A decline in ore grades and a lack of investment in projects vital for the continued growth of the electric car industry could see production slow just as demand begins to take off, the firm says.

According to Moody’s, “declining ore grades for copper, continued lack of investment in new mines, and the time required to bring new discoveries to production will constrain metal availability and the metal sector’s ability to meet growing demand from battery/auto makers, particularly in the near-term.”

A note from the firm also states that “Given the time involved in making a greenfield investment decision and receiving necessary permits new nickel and copper mines will take at least 5–10 years, if not longer, to reach initial production ramp-up.”

According to Moody’s, “significant” new-mine investment will be necessary to meet rising demand.

Analysts also believe exploration and development spending is modest across the board, as industry participants are focusing on rebuilding their balance sheets after acquisitions that were “ill timed” amid price slumps four years ago.

Fortunes for some of the world’s largest nickel producers have been jittery through 2018, complicating that metal’s chances of an uptick in production.

Vale is struggling to offload its VNC project in New Caledonia, which has long been plagued with problems, posting USD 1.3 billion in losses from 2014 to 2016. The project was over budget and late when it first opened in 2010, immediately coming up against local opposition.

The company is now considering mothballing the facility. New Caledonia is the world’s fourth-largest nickel producer, at 210,000 tonnes a year.

Meanwhile, miners in the Philippines are up against belligerent president Rodrigo Duterte, who has threatened to shut down mines over environmental concerns, and has begun drafting measures that could not only hamstring further operations, but effectively decapitate the country’s huge nickel industry.

The Philippines was the world’s second-largest nickel miner in 2017, despite a fall in production from 347,000 million tonnes in 2016 to 230,000 million tonnes in 2017, because of actions taken by Duterte.

Russian producer Nornickel has seen plenty of attention recently with investors wary of US sanctions fears that have so far been unrealized, but still occasionally sends jitters through the market. Russia was the world’s sixth-largest nickel producer in 2017 at 180,000 tonnes.

Relief for the market may come from Indonesia, which relaxed a ban on low-grade nickel ore exports in 2017 in an attempt to boost its economy, opening up an already large nickel producer to more investment and production opportunities.

A Zimbabwean mining company is considering upgrading a local nickel refinery to produce battery grade lithium or alternatively build a new lithium carbonate plant at a cost of up to $150 million, its managing director said on Monday.

Lithium is in demand globally as a battery metal needed for the shift to electric vehicles and renewable power and Zimbabwe has said it has the potential to supply 20 percent of the world’s lithium.

Zimbabwe is one of the top 10 lithium producers but currently produces only a fraction of the worldwide total.

John McTaggart, Kamativi Tailings Company managing director, told parliament his company is negotiating with Zimbabwean-listed miner RioZim to upgrade its Empress Nickel Refinery, which is 120 km (75 miles) west of the capital so it can produce lithium carbonate.

But if this failed, Kamativi could look at setting up a lithium carbonate plant in Zimbabwe at a cost of $100-$150 million, McTaggart said.

Kamativi is a 60-40 percent venture between privately-owned Jimbala and state mining firm Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation that is processing a tailings dump in western Zimbabwe.

The tailings dump accumulated between 1936 and 1994 during the mining and processing of tin-bearing minerals.

“We believe we have the volume of concentrate in-country to warrant a lithium carbonate plant. Africa certainly needs one with the electric vehicle revolution that’s taking place,” said McTaggart.

McTaggart would not provide more details when later contacted for comment by Reuters.

McTaggart said a concentrator that will produce up to 19,000 tonnes of concentrate of lithium-bearing spodumene should be completed by December at a cost of $25 million.

Canadian-listed Chimata Cold Corp has a right to buy into Kamativi if it raises the money, McTaggart said.

Zimbabwe Mines Minister Winston Chitando said in February the southern African nation would generate revenue of $1.4 billion over eight years from the Kamativi lithium project. McTaggart, however, said the figure was purely speculative.

California to impose solar panels on every newly constructed house. The Energy Commission will approve new regulations that include the obligation for new homes to have some sort of solar energy production by 2020. There will be exceptions for buildings which can’t fit panels or are hidden from the sun by vegetation or their urban environment. As for the financial aspect:

The new standards are poised to hike construction costs by $25,000 to $30,000 (about half of which is directly due to solar), but the self-produced energy is estimated to save owners $50,000 to $60,000 in operating costs over the solar technology’s expected 25-year lifespan.

This new regulation is poised to dramatically increase solar power production in California. Barring an improbable negative vote, this would make California the first US state to induce such a green home transition.

Researchers develop water-based battery to store solar and wind energy. Stanford researchers have produced a battery running on water to support the energy grid. It emits a mere 20 milliwatts/hour for now, but its potential recharging capacity, up to 10 000 times or a decade of continuous use, is the main selling point. How does it work?

In essence the researchers coaxed a reversible electron-exchange between water and manganese sulfate, a cheap, abundant industrial salt used to make dry cell batteries, fertilizers, paper and other products.

The developers also estimate that it would cost a mere penny to store the power required to light a 100-watt lightbulb for 12 hours.

Peaceful low-speed EV rides are coming to an end in Britain. The British guide dog lobby is having their way and EV will be mandated by law to emit some sound warning unsuspecting bystanders that a car is in their presence. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents has established that EV moving at less than 20 mph are barely audible and thus a threat to their environment. The point according to Chris Hanson-Abbott is to:

have warnings which are audible but which are not the least bit environmentally disturbing.

Hence, some device emitting tonal and white noises will have to be installed to every electric car in Britain by 2021.