Jay Whitacre, CEOHowever, achieving this balance requires significant advances in battery chemistry, engineering, and thermal management systems.
Amidst these needs, the industry has been seeking a breakthrough solution to balance safety, cost, and performance— an opportunity Stratus Materials has seized.
The company has raised the bar for batteries by developing and producing cobalt-free lithium manganese rich (LMR) cathode active materials (CAMs) that enhance energy storage performance while ensuring safety and thermal stability for optimal battery performance in EVs. Stratus’s brand name for its proprietary CAMs is LXMOTM.
Stabilizing Cathode Technology
Where many companies in the battery materials space focus on innovations on the anode side of the battery, Stratus Materials’ innovation stands apart because it is on the cathode side. It is one of the only companies to have proven that cobalt-free, LMR materials can be optimized and truly stabilized (as opposed to using coatings or advanced electrolytes, which offer only limited improvements).
This innovation has practical implications for both performance and manufacturability, as demonstrated by the company’s impressive materials performance benchmarks. These advancements build on foundational research at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where the critical importance of specific synthetic processing steps led to the publication of several research papers on the roles of various thermal process steps in determining materials properties.Jay Whitacre, a tenured professor at CMU, took those early findings and successfully translated them into scalable processes off-campus, resulting in the formation of Stratus Materials. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when university labs were shut down, he embraced the unusual circumstances and took a step back to utilize the time and create something new.
“We have noticed that the current demand is focused on more affordable yet still very safe battery packs for vehicles, as cost remains one of the industry’s greatest challenges,” says Jay Whitacre, CEO. “Our proprietary LXMO formulations and production processes allow manufacturers to create safer, cost-effective and more energy-dense battery cells and packs for use in vehicles and other applications.”
Today, the company has evolved into a U.S.-based developer and producer of manganese-rich, cobalt-free cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries, specifically designed for light-to-medium-duty EVs. Its cathode materials seamlessly integrate into existing cell designs with minimal modifications, enhancing performance.
Sets New Benchmarks in Energy and Speed
Achieving high energy density at the electrode level is fundamental to any battery system. Currently, Stratus Materials demonstrates over 700 watt-hours per liter at a three-hour discharge rate in its LXMO cells, suggesting that the batteries can deliver substantial energy in a short period of time. The batteries can also achieve at least a 70 percent charge in just 15 minutes in cells that incorporate its cathode materials.
Both fast charging and the ability to extract significant energy over a usable duration have enabled the company to set the bar high. This marks a significant shift, since many new materials faced barriers in gaining market entry as they couldn’t achieve these performance standards at a bulk production level.
Stratus Materials has overcome this barrier and is developing a range of products with varying attributes, all within the same class of materials—lithium-rich, manganese-rich CAMs. These materials are primarily focused on EVs, but their potential goes beyond that.
“Due to low cost and versatility, our CAM materials perform across various durations and in different cell geometrics, which is highly suitable for stationary storage and even consumer electronics,” says Whitacre.
Our proprietary LXMO formulations and production processes allow manufacturers to create safer, cost-effective and more energy-dense battery cells and packs for use in vehicles and other applications
Stratus Materials’ patented production processes stabilize these materials which enables strong performance and long-term cycling. Stratus maintains a robust R&D effort and pipeline to ensure its products will remain best-in-class.
Scaling up to Meet Soaring Industry Demand
Building on its groundbreaking LXMO materials, Stratus Materials is now scaling up production to meet growing industry demand. Behind these efforts is a team of experts who have extensive experience in the large-scale production of battery materials, quality, and supply chain management. These visionaries and their collaborators truly understand what it takes to move from lab-scale developments to industrial-scale manufacturing.
Currently, Stratus Materials is building a pilot line that is capable of producing 30 tons of LXMO material per year and expected to be operational in mid-year 2025. This will enable the company to produce the material at a large scale, to supply larger initial volumes to its customers, and to prove scalability of its materials and production processes. Additionally, the company continues to pursue ambitious R&D projects to push the boundaries of what is possible. These efforts are yielding exceptional performance improvements and compelling results, guiding and enabling the development of future generations of products.
As a result, Stratus Materials is offering a superior cathode solution to address the current trade-offs required between performance, range, safety, and cost. By eliminating these compromises, the company is helping manufacturers meet the growing demand for high-performance, safe, and cost-effective battery systems.
Stratus has been actively sampling and validating its advanced LXMO cathode materials with a diverse range of external end-users and partners since the first quarter of 2023. Its growing list of industry players evaluating LXMO includes leading EV OEMs, major lithium-ion cell and pack producers, and established CAM manufacturers.
Pioneering Tomorrow’s Energy Solutions
Stratus Materials’ achievements are not just milestones — they are stepping stones toward a transformative impact on a global scale. The goal is to position LXMO as a key component in the developing domestic CAM supply chains to support the production of advanced batteries and EVs in North America and Europe. The company plans to collaborate with industry leaders to establish high-volume LXMO production facilities across North America, Europe, and Asia in the coming years.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that Stratus Materials is at the forefront of revolutionizing the battery materials landscape. By overcoming the stability challenges across the LMR class of CAMs with its proprietary LXMO materials, Stratus Materials is powering global electrification and paving the way for sustainable, next-generation energy storage solutions.
