Critical Resources Limited has secured co-funding through the CSIRO Kick-Start program to launch a collaborative research project supporting the optimisation and scale-up of its Dry Supersonic Deposition battery manufacturing technology.

The $100,000 project will be undertaken by researchers at Lab22, CSIRO’s advanced manufacturing facility in Clayton, Victoria. Researchers will apply Digital Twin modelling to construct a three-dimensional virtual model of the supersonic nozzle assembly and deposition environment, simulating gas flow behaviour, particle trajectories, and impact conditions to de-risk and optimise the manufacturing process.

The workstream adds a parallel manufacturing phase to the company’s existing solid-state evaluation program. Critical Resources conducts its core solid-state battery evaluation program at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology within the U.S. National Science Foundation-supported Centre for Solid-State Electric Power Storage. The company’s commercialisation strategy focuses on licensing its battery materials and manufacturing intellectual property rather than constructing and funding cell manufacturing capacity.

The company previously reported on June 18, 2026, that its dry-deposited cathode had advanced into full-format pouch cells with electrochemical testing underway. The new collaboration with Australia’s national science agency introduces independent process modelling scheduled to commence in September 2026 over a period of up to twelve months.

“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. With South Dakota Mines and now CSIRO we are finding solutions on both sides: the materials and the manufacturing.

“Our focus at this stage is to develop the process knowledge: the patent position, the data, and the engineering understanding a potential cell manufacturer needs to run it. Peer review has established that DSD works. What comes next is knowing where the operating window sits, what causes defects, and how the process behaves at scale. CSIRO's digital twin capability answers those questions by modelling rather than by spending money and time on trial after trial, and it brings world-class expertise and facilities to the DSD process.

— Tim Wither, Managing Director

The research and modelling program is a foundational collaboration. No commercial agreement, licence, partnership or revenue stream arises from the project, which is co-funded up to $50,000 by CSIRO with Critical Resources funding the balance.

Read the full announcement: CSIRO to Collaborate with CRR on DSD Battery Technology