Lithium battery anode materials: the core field of new energy vehicles, rapid growth to meet huge opportunities

The arrival of the era of new energy vehicles has become the main driving factor for lithium batteries and anode materials. Recently, the overall supply of negative electrode materials, an important raw material for lithium batteries, has been in short supply. According to industry insiders, currently affected by the tight supply of negative electrode graphitization, the overall supply of finished products is tight.

Industry analysts believe that, affected by the narrowing of graphitization capacity supply in Inner Mongolia, the supply of negative electrode graphitization is further tight, and the supply of some negative electrode material companies may be reduced to a certain extent.

The downstream market demand remains strong, the demand for power anodes and energy storage anode materials continues to increase, and the demand for energy storage will have a wider space, and the overall demand is expected to maintain a state of rapid growth. #lithium battery#

Gaogong Lithium expects that the global demand for negative electrode materials will be 415,000 tons in 21 years, and the demand is expected to reach 1,317,500 tons in 2025, with an average compound growth rate of 34% in 21-25 years.

The negative electrode material is one of the key materials of lithium-ion batteries, accounting for about 10% of the cost of lithium-ion batteries. The negative electrode of lithium-ion batteries is mainly composed of negative electrode active materials, binders and additives, and then evenly spread on both sides of the copper foil, dried and rolled. It is formed by pressing, which plays the role of reversibly removing/intercalating lithium ions and storing energy. It is the electrode for oxidation reaction in lithium ion batteries. It plays a decisive role in the performance of lithium ion batteries such as charge and discharge efficiency and capacity density. one of the key materials.

Anode materials are mainly divided into two categories: carbon materials and non-carbon materials.

Carbon refers to carbon-based systems, mainly including mesocarbon microspheres, artificial graphite, natural graphite and hard carbon.

At present, the most widely used carbon materials are graphite anode materials, among which artificial graphite and natural graphite have large-scale industrial applications.

Since artificial graphite is superior to natural graphite in terms of cycle performance, safety performance, charge and discharge rate, and its cost and gram capacity are close to natural graphite, it has become the mainstream choice for lithium battery anode materials, with a market share of 84% in 2020. %.

Among them, heat treatment is the core of artificial graphite negative electrode, and the manufacturing and processing cost accounts for a relatively high proportion in the cost of artificial graphite negative electrode, mainly for the processing cost of graphitization/carbonization process, of which electricity is the main component. In order to control costs, mainstream anode companies have begun to build graphitization plants in areas with low electricity prices.

Non-carbon materials mainly include silicon-based materials, tin-based materials, lithium titanate, etc. Among them, silicon-based anode materials are currently the focus of research by major anode material manufacturers, and are one of the new anode materials that are most likely to be applied on a large scale in the future.

Overall, the graphite anode has a wide space, and the artificial graphite route is mainstream. Carbon-silicon anodes have become the first choice for next-generation anode materials due to their high specific capacity, high safety, and low de-intercalation potential, but their industrialization still faces great obstacles.

From the perspective of the market structure, the structure in the first half of 2021 is basically stable, among which Beiterui, Zichen, Shanshan and Kaijin are the four largest, accounting for 69.4% of the output share, a slight increase of 1pct compared to 2020; Fenghua, Xingcheng and Shangtai, of which Xingcheng supplies BYD, Shangtai has a starting share in Ningde, and the three small companies occupy 22.6% of the share, which is 3pct higher than that in 2020, and the negative electrode industry structure is relatively stable.

In recent years, various countries have successively introduced new energy vehicle promotion policies. The industry has grown rapidly but is still in the policy-driven stage. With the technological advancement of the industrial chain, the future will usher in the era of dual-driven supply and demand, which will also promote the rapid growth of the industrial chain. As an important segment of new energy vehicles, it is expected to usher in huge opportunities.