Toray has developed an ultra-thin wetlaid nonwoven fabric with a thickness of 3 µm using PET nanofibers as raw material. By using nanofibers, the company has been able to reduced the thickness of the nonwoven substrate from 10 to 3µm.

The nonwoven fabric features uniform pore size and a smooth surface with minimal irregularities and can be manufactured using PPS and PET fibers. Toray is proposing it as a reinforcing material for solid electrolytes used in all-solid-state batteries. Solid electrolytes are thin sheets of inorganic particles, making them brittle and challenging to handle. Using an ultrathin nonwoven fabric as a reinforcing material allows for increased strength while maintaining the sheet’s thinness.