Using ampere-hour pouch cells to guide sodium-ion development

A research team wanted to find out how its proposed sodium-ion system would behave in ampere-hour pouch cells. Working together, we brought the materials, electrolyte, electrode coating and cell assembly into one development project, making the research and manufacturing assumptions explicit along the way. The cell results differed from the customer’s initial expectations. Rather than treating that gap as the end of the project, we examined the design and assumptions with the team to identify what needed to change. The collaboration took the concept into a larger-cell validation platform and produced evidence to guide the next iteration.