Critical Resources Secures CSIRO Collaboration to Optimise DSD Battery Technology
Key Takeaways
- Critical Resources and CSIRO have entered a $100,000 co-funded research project — CSIRO contributing up to $50,000 — to model and optimise the Dry Supersonic Deposition (DSD) battery manufacturing process using CSIRO's Digital Twin capability at Lab22 in Clayton, Victoria.
- The project commences September 2026 over up to twelve months and is led by Dr Saden Zahiri, who has been developing digital twin frameworks for supersonic deposition since 2004 and holds an Adjunct Professorship at Swinburne University of Technology.
- All simulation outputs, analysis and the final report will be the intellectual property of Critical Resources, not CSIRO.
- The CSIRO collaboration follows an independent peer-reviewed publication in Electrochimica Acta confirming the DSD cathode formation mechanism, with coin cell results of approximately 154 mAh/g and ~85% capacity retention over 500 cycles at 1C.
- CRR's commercialisation strategy is licensing-based — no cell manufacturing — meaning each de-risking milestone directly strengthens its position in licensing and partnership discussions with potential cell manufacturers.
Critical Resources partners with CSIRO to de-risk and scale its DSD battery technology
Critical Resources has entered a collaborative research project with CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, co-funded through CSIRO’s Kick-Start program. The project will support the optimisation and scale-up of the Company’s Dry Supersonic Deposition (DSD) battery manufacturing technology — a solvent-free, binder-free process designed to remove cost, energy and environmental burden from conventional battery production. The total project budget is $100,000, with CSIRO contributing up to $50,000 and CRR co-funding the balance. The project commences in September 2026 over up to twelve months. This is a research and modelling program — no commercial agreement, licence, partnership or revenue arises from it, and none is currently subject to a binding arrangement. CRR’s current strategy is to commercialise its battery materials and manufacturing intellectual property through licensing rather than building cell manufacturing capacity.
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What the CSIRO project will deliver
The work will be undertaken at Lab22, CSIRO’s advanced additive and robotic manufacturing facility in Clayton, Victoria, drawing on more than 30 years of CSIRO experience in the field and applying CSIRO’s Digital Twin capability to optimise the DSD process and develop a scale-up pathway. The project is led by Dr Saden Zahiri, who leads CSIRO’s Robotic Additive Manufacturing Team and holds an Adjunct Professorship at Swinburne University of Technology. He has been at the forefront of developing digital twin frameworks for supersonic deposition since 2004.
CSIRO will deliver four core workstreams:
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Digital twin construction and visualisation: Build a three-dimensional virtual model of the spray nozzle assembly and deposition environment, and simulate gas flow behaviour, particle trajectories, particle velocity and temperature distributions, and supersonic shock wave locations.
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Powder and particle size distribution assessment: Integrate CRR’s particle size distribution data into the digital twin framework, analyse particle velocity across the size range, visualise impact conditions, estimate deposition efficiency and assess particle-size-dependent bonding behaviour.
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Advanced analytics and defect-mechanism work: Identify conditions contributing to defect formation, cracking or poor inter-particle bonding, and run hypothetical simulations to evaluate potential process improvements.
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Recommendations and reporting: Deliver technical recommendations for future optimisation, experimental validation and scale-up, together with a comprehensive final report.
Under the project arrangements, the simulation outputs, analysis and final report will be the intellectual property of Critical Resources. CSIRO retains ownership of its underlying Digital Twin methodologies and meshing know-how, which are excluded from the project deliverables.
The battery manufacturing problem DSD is built to solve
Battery manufacturing conventionally relies on a wet slurry process where active materials, mixed with a polymer binder and a toxic solvent, are coated onto foil and then dried in high-temperature ovens. The solvent, binder and drying step together add significant cost, energy, capital and environmental burden to every cell produced. Because the binder itself is electrically insulating, its presence also reduces conductivity within the electrode.
CRR’s DSD process, being developed with the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, removes all three. Cathode and/or electrolyte materials are accelerated to supersonic velocity and deposited dry, in a single step — no solvent, no binder, no drying oven.
Manufacturability, not just safety, is the real advantage. Sulphur-based solid-state electrolytes perform well but are toxic and costly to manufacture. CRR’s sulphur-free electrolytes show performance that is achievable without either drawback, opening a cleaner and potentially cheaper manufacturing pathway with DSD. Removing these components is one of the most valuable unsolved problems in battery manufacturing. Solving it widens the licensing value of the underlying IP.
Tim Wither, Managing Director
“The battery industry has no shortage of promising chemistry. What it is short of is chemistry that can be manufactured at cost, at scale and repeatably — and that, more than materials performance, is what holds solid-state battery architecture back.”
Where the collaboration sits — validation building on peer review
The digital twin is the next de-risking step after independent peer review. An independent peer-reviewed publication in Electrochimica Acta, announced on 2 July 2026, confirmed the formation mechanism of the dry-deposited cathode. That publication reported, from a first and unoptimised set of trials in coin cell format on a liquid-electrolyte reference, approximately 154 mAh/g at low rate and retention of approximately 85% of capacity over 500 cycles at 1C with coulombic efficiency above 99.5%.
CRR’s sulphur-free Amorphous Solid-State Electrolyte (ASE) has been benchmarked at 3.2 mS cm⁻¹ ionic conductivity and 0.27 eV activation energy (announced 28 May 2026), but has not yet been integrated with the DSD process into a complete cell. Integration of the solid electrolyte, and full-format pouch cell cycling, remain ongoing.
The table below shows where the CSIRO collaboration sits within the broader battery evaluation program:
| Program Stage | Workstream | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Electrolyte material benchmarked (ionic conductivity, stability) | ASE (electrolyte) | Completed |
| Single-step composite layer deposited (cathode + electrolyte + conductor, solvent-free) | DSD (manufacturing) | Completed |
| Coin cell electrochemical baseline (charge/discharge vs. known reference) | DSD (manufacturing) | Completed |
| Independent peer-reviewed publication of the DSD cathode process (Electrochimica Acta, 2026) | DSD (manufacturing) | Completed |
| Digital Twin modelling and process optimisation of the DSD deposition process | DSD + CSIRO | Commencing |
| Full-format pouch cell prototype — electrochemical baseline (charge/discharge vs. known reference) | DSD + benchmark electrolyte | Ongoing |
| Independent testing of DSD pouch cell prototype | DSD + benchmark electrolyte | Next |
| Full solid-state cell: Solid-state ASE and HTE electrolytes integrated with DSD process | ASE + DSD | Planned |
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The investment case and what comes next
CRR runs a capital-light, milestone-gated, evidence-led strategy — commercialising battery IP through licensing rather than building cell manufacturing capacity. The asset is process knowledge: the patent position, the validated performance data, and the engineering understanding a potential cell manufacturer needs to implement the process at scale. Each step that de-risks the DSD process — independent peer review, and now independent process modelling by Australia’s national science agency — widens CRR’s licensing and partnership opportunity and strengthens its position in discussions with potential cell and component manufacturers.
The Company holds strategic positioning across the battery value chain: interests in both lithium resources (Mavis Lake Lithium Project) and next-generation battery technology IP — advancing independently but together broadening CRR’s optionality across future partnerships, licensing and commercial pathways. The DSD process is the subject of a lodged provisional patent application over which CRR holds an exclusive option.
The CSIRO Kick-Start program is structured as a foundational collaboration program. CRR intends to use the outcomes of this project to scope a subsequent, larger program of work with CSIRO. Managing Director Tim Wither noted: “Kick-Start is deliberately our first project with CSIRO — our intention is that it is not the last.”
Next steps:
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Commence digital twin construction and simulation of the DSD nozzle assembly and deposition environment, including defining current parameters, material classification and analysis of existing results
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Continue the parallel SDM evaluation program, including full-format pouch cell testing, independent third-party electrochemical validation, and integration of the ASE solid electrolyte with the DSD process
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Use the resulting process understanding to support the Company’s licensing and partnering discussions
This remains early-stage work. The approach across both CRR’s battery and thermal management technology programs remains capital-light, milestone-gated and evidence-led, with each stage validated before the next is committed.
Ready to learn more about Critical Resources’ battery manufacturing breakthrough?
Critical Resources is advancing a potentially transformative approach to battery production — one that removes solvents, binders and energy-intensive drying from the manufacturing process entirely. The CSIRO collaboration marks the next stage of validating and scaling this technology, building on independent peer review already published in a leading electrochemistry journal.
To explore CRR’s full battery IP strategy, lithium project portfolio and upcoming milestones, visit the Critical Resources investor centre.