NEO Battery Materials, a low-cost, silicon-enhanced battery materials and components developer that enables longer-running, rapid-charging batteries, entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) with NainTech, a South Korean manufacturer specializing in battery & fuel cell technology and semiconductor & display precision equipment.

Both parties will co-develop sodium-ion battery technology for energy storage systems (ESS) and high-performance lithium-ion batteries with MXene additives.

Through the JDA, NEO and NainTech will collaborate closely on both drone and stationary energy storage technologies. Sodium-ion batteries (SIB) will be the first development focus for integration in ESS for artificial intelligence (AI) data centres and power grid storage. SIBs have gained recognition as the de facto alternative to lithium-ion batteries for energy storage, benefiting from greater resource availability and lower costs. NEO will support NainTech in developing and manufacturing SIB electrodes and full battery cells, guiding prototype design through to commercial-level deployment.

For drone applications, NainTech’s proprietary additives, Titanium-based MXene, will be incorporated into NEO’s silicon anode products and high-performance battery designs to improve electrical conductivity – a critical factor to enable longer flight times, heavier payloads, and high-power maneuvers in drones and unmanned systems (UAS). MXenes are 2-dimensional materials that can outperform the conductivity of commercial graphene by one order of magnitude.