Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy to Invest 182.4 Billion Won in Next-Generation All-Solid-State Battery Commercialization

Completion of Full R&D Lineup for All-Solid-State Batteries:
Polymer-Based, Sulfide-Based, and Oxide-Based Technologies

On May 19, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that it has selected research and development institutions for the development of polymer-based all-solid-state battery technology and will officially launch the project.

This project aims to develop all-solid-state batteries targeting the rapidly growing market for small IT and wearable devices. The project period is from 2025 to 2028, with a total investment of 35.8 billion won (25 billion won from the government and 10.8 billion won from the private sector). The selected research and development institutions include Amogreentech, Chungnam National University, and the Korea Photonics Technology Institute.

All-solid-state batteries use solid electrolytes instead of conventional liquid electrolytes, which enables improved fire safety and the realization of high energy density. For this reason, they are considered a core technology for the future battery market. The polymer-based all-solid-state batteries to be developed in this project are designed to simultaneously achieve lightweight, high energy density, and high safety. This is to enable their integration into body-contact small devices such as smartwatches, VR headsets, wireless earphones, and smart rings.

The Ministry explained that, by providing additional support for the development of polymer-based technology following its previous efforts in oxide-based and sulfide-based all-solid-state battery development, it has now completed a full lineup of support for next-generation battery technologies.

Currently, the Ministry is supporting the "Development Project for Ultra-Compact Stacked Ceramic All-Solid-State Batteries for Substrate Mounting" to develop oxide-based all-solid-state batteries. This project aims to develop low-power, high-safety batteries that are attached to PCB substrates to serve as auxiliary power sources for electronic devices. A total of 29.4 billion won (21.2 billion won from the government and 8.2 billion won from the private sector) is being invested from 2023 to 2026.

In addition, since last year, the Ministry has been conducting the "Development Project for High-Performance Next-Generation Secondary Battery Technology for Eco-Friendly Mobility" to develop sulfide-based all-solid-state batteries suitable for medium and large-sized batteries. The total project budget is 117.2 billion won, to be invested by 2028. Currently, joint research and development among industry, academia, and research institutes, including cell manufacturers, is actively underway for the development of next-generation batteries such as all-solid-state batteries, lithium metal batteries, and lithium-sulfur batteries.

Yoon Sunghyuk, Director-General for Advanced Industry Policy at the Ministry, stated, "Once the development of these three promising all-solid-state battery technologies is completed, it will greatly contribute to securing a significant technological lead and diversifying the portfolio of the domestic battery industry." He added, "The government will also actively support investment in battery technologies such as sodium and lithium iron phosphate, in addition to all-solid-state batteries."