AMBIC | WMG, University of Warwick
Advanced Materials Battery Industrialisation Centre(AMBIC)
What is AMBIC
WMG and CPI bring complementary strengths to AMBIC’s mission:
- CPI focuses on battery materials processing and process engineering.
- WMG specialises in electrode optimisation and cell prototyping.
AMBIC enables companies to produce multi-kilogram batches of battery materials and validate their performance using application-relevant cell formats. AMBIC’s unique capabilities support the advancement of lithium-ion, sodium-ion, solid-state, and other emerging battery technologies across a wide Technology Readiness Level (TRL) range, helping to elevate them through Manufacturing Readiness Levels (MRL) and eventual commercialisation.
By accelerating the journey from concept to market, AMBIC ensures the UK remains at the forefront of global battery innovation, supporting the transition to electrification and a sustainable energy future.
AMBIC integrates advanced materials development, cell prototyping, and real-time metrology with data analytics to deliver consistent quality, optimised manufacturing processes, and reduced time to market. By accelerating the transition from concept to commercialisation, AMBIC plays a vital role in driving innovation and sustainable growth in energy storage technologies, crucial for electric vehicles and grid-scale applications. Its mission is to ensure the UK remains a global leader in the battery industry, supporting the shift toward electrification and a more sustainable energy future.
Virtual tour of the AMBIC facility.
Focus Areas
WMG plays a central role in AMBIC’s mission to accelerate battery innovation, with expertise spanning the full battery development cycle from materials formulation to cell assembly and performance evaluation. These capabilities are essential for bridging the gap between lab-scale research and industrial-scale production.
Electrode Fabrication
WMG develops and optimises scalable, industry-representative electrode fabrication processes to support high-performance battery technologies. This includes precise control over mixing, coating, drying, and calendering for a wide range of materials, such as high-energy density cathodes and advanced anodes. These processes are critical for ensuring consistent quality, enhanced electrochemical performance, and manufacturability at scale.
Cell Assembly
Supporting both pouch and cylindrical cell formats, WMG enables precise control over cell architecture and material integration. These capabilities are vital for validating new chemistries, improving performance, and accelerating the transition from laboratory innovation to industrial-scale production, particularly for transportation, high-power, and intermittent energy storage applications.
Formulation and Screening
WMG offers advanced slurry formulation capabilities from ≤0.5 kg to 10 kg scale, with tight control over rheological properties and solids content. This includes processing ultra-high nickel cathodes and novel materials under controlled environments (≤ -40 °C dew point). Rapid screening and optimisation of formulations help ensure the right balance of active materials, binders, and additives, directly impacting energy density, cycle life, and safety.
Cell Performance Testing and Reverse Engineering
Understanding battery performance and degradation is key to innovation. WMG conducts rigorous testing under real-world conditions to evaluate safety, lifespan, and efficiency. Through reverse engineering of commercial cells, WMG benchmarks technologies, identifies failure mechanisms, and informs the design of next-generation batteries, supporting AMBIC’s broader goals in electrode and cell development.
Advanced Characterisation
WMG employs cutting-edge electrochemical, physical, and chemical characterisation techniques, both destructive and non-destructive, to analyse battery behaviour throughout its lifecycle. Tools such as impedance spectroscopy, micro-CT imaging, advanced electron microscopy, and thermal analysis provide deep insights into performance, degradation, and failure mechanisms, enabling safer and more durable battery designs.
Sustainable Battery Processes
WMG is developing a range of advanced electrode processing techniques, including slurry based, high viscosity, semi-dry, and dry fibrillation and coating methods to reduce energy use, eliminate toxic solvents, and replace PFAS containing binders. These methods streamline manufacturing and improve recyclability, while a strong focus on resource efficient advanced materials supports the development of greener, lower cost, and high performance batteries for various applications.
Core Equipment and Capabilities
WMG’s open-access battery cell manufacturing facility positions the UK as a unique leader in next-generation cylindrical cell prototyping, supporting local manufacturing, sustainability objectives, and innovation across the battery value chain.
Integrated within AMBIC, this facility brings together state-of-the-art equipment to support the development of lithium-ion, sodium-ion, and solid-state battery technologies, enabling scalable prototyping and validation of advanced materials and cell formats.
Eirich Clean Line C5 Mixer (5L capacity)
Designed for moisture-sensitive chemistries such as high-nickel, lithium, and sodium-ion, this mixer operates at ≤ -40 °C dew point with degassing during mixing, enabling high-performance slurry preparation for advanced electrode formulations.
E&R Series 10 Modular Slot Die Coater
A flexible coater with 5.6 m air flotation dryers, supporting continuous, intermittent (symmetric/asymmetric), and stripe coatings on foil widths from 100–500 mm and thicknesses down to 4 µm, at line speeds of 0.5–20 m/min.
Key features include:
- Micro-dry environment (up to -60 °C)
- Corona cleaning
- Integrated metrology: X-ray coat weight sensors, confocal thickness sensors
- Product marking and traceability
Ingecal 220T Calendering Machine
Enables electrode densification with high precision and consistency across a wide range of formats. Suitable for foil widths up to 600 mm, with pressure control from 100–400 N/mm and gap mode tolerance ~1 µm.
Additional features:
- Advanced web handling (4 tension zones)
- Edge induction heating and slitting
- Pre-heating options (S-wrap or infrared)
Digatron 46XX Canning Line
Supports semi-automated prototyping of large-format cylindrical cells (e.g., 4680), with laser welding, barcode traceability, and upgrade-ready tooling for future cell formats.
Dr. Rob Gruar
Chief Engineer
Dr. Matthew Capener
Principal Engineer
Dr. Ieuan Ellis
Principal Engineer
Dr. Mahrez Amri
Business Development Manager
Contact us
Whether you're interested in collaborating, exploring our battery manufacturing capabilities, or learning more about our facilities
Our team is here to support industry, innovation partners and academic research. Speak to us to discover how we can work together to shape the future of battery technology.
Get in touch with us today!
