Intertek: Donut Battery Is Not a Lithium-Ion or Sodium Battery

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Donut Lab has released new independent test results completed by Intertek, further revealing the chemical composition of its cells. The results show that the cells are neither lithium-ion batteries nor sodium batteries.

Intertek is a multinational product testing and certification company. The test analyzed the internal structure and elemental composition of Donut Lab's next-generation cells at Intertek's UK laboratory. All active components of the cells were submitted for testing, including the current collectors, the anode that facilitates oxidation, the cathode that facilitates reduction, and the electrolyte between them.

Donut Lab CEO Marko Lehtimäki said that when Donut Lab unveiled the Donut Battery at CES, it claimed the product was made from widely available, affordable, and geopolitically secure materials, but did not disclose the battery's exact chemical composition at the time. Some outsiders speculated that it was a lithium battery, while others were convinced it relied on sodium-based chemistry. The company hopes to settle these speculations through independent testing and prove that it is neither a lithium-ion battery nor a sodium battery.

The test dissolved the samples in nitric acid and analyzed them using a standardized ICP-OES method accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). This is a sensitive method capable of detecting elements present at extremely low trace levels. During the analysis, the plasma breaks down the sample into individual atoms, and each element present emits light at its characteristic wavelength.

Lithium was detected in the cells at a concentration of 3.4 ppm (parts per million). By comparison, lithium content in lithium-ion batteries is measured in percentages, meaning they contain tens of thousands of times more lithium than the Donut Battery. In fact, the level Intertek detected is nearly the level found in virtually any material.

The battery contains 632 ppm (parts per million) of sodium, because sodium is ubiquitous. In sodium-ion batteries, the active materials contain 50–100 times more sodium than the Donut Battery.

Donut Lab Chief Technology Officer Ville Piippo added that it is impossible to make a functional battery with such a small amount of active material, indicating that the Donut Battery is composed of materials other than lithium or sodium.