6K Energy, the battery materials arm of 6K Inc., has been awarded a $1.9 million research and development grant under the Battery Network Program III from the Defense Logistics Agency. The funding backs a 12-month push to scale domestic production of advanced single-crystal NMC721 cathode powders using the company’s UniMelt microwave plasma platform, a process that keeps coming up whenever sustainability and performance are mentioned in the same breath. It’s one of those stories that doesn’t shout, but it matters, especially when you look at how dependent battery materials still are on fragile global supply chains.
What makes this effort particularly interesting is the focus on single-crystal NMC721, a chemistry that sits in a practical sweet spot for defense applications. Designed to operate cleanly in an “All-US” voltage window of 2.5 to 4.35 volts, this material is being validated not just in theory but through coin-cell and full-cell testing with a U.S.-based lithium-ion cell manufacturer. That detail matters; lab powders are easy, scaled and tested materials that behave consistently are not. Single-crystal structures avoid the internal grain boundaries that plague polycrystalline cathodes, meaning less cracking over time, lower unwanted reactions with electrolytes, and better long-term stability. It’s less glamorous than flashy new chemistries, but far more relevant if your priority is reliability under demanding conditions.
From a manufacturing perspective, the contrast with conventional production routes is stark. Traditional co-precipitation methods for single-crystal NMC721 often involve long calcination cycles, flux additives, heavy post-processing, and a trail of chemical waste. UniMelt, 6K’s production-scale microwave plasma system, compresses that entire chain into a faster, cleaner process that’s already operating at industrial scale. According to life-cycle analysis work done with Minviro, the approach can cut energy use by as much as half compared to legacy NMC production methods, while also delivering similar reductions in processing cost. That combination—lower energy, lower cost, domestic production—is exactly what programs like BATTNET are designed to unlock, even if it rarely makes for headline-friendly copy.
The grant sits within the BATTNET framework, a Defense Operational Energy initiative under the Defense Manufacturing Technology program, and its priorities read like a checklist of current battery pain points: stronger domestic supply chains, improved safety and shelf life, less premature disposal, and higher availability for defense systems. In that context, 6K’s prior work on single-crystal NMC811 and other high-nickel materials becomes more than a footnote; it’s a signal that this NMC721 effort isn’t starting from scratch but extending an already-validated platform. The idea is not just to make better powders, but to make them here, at scale, with fewer trade-offs hiding in the fine print.
Taken together, this award says less about one company winning a grant and more about how battery manufacturing priorities are shifting. Performance alone is no longer enough; provenance, sustainability, and scalability are now part of the spec sheet, whether anyone admits it openly or not. If UniMelt continues to deliver on its promise, the real outcome won’t just be better cathode powders, but a quieter recalibration of where and how critical battery materials are made in the United States. That’s the kind of progress that doesn’t trend on social feeds, but ends up shaping the next decade anyway.
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