Many enterprises to expand the production of silicon-based cathode materials

Shanshan Lithium Power plans to build an integrated base project of silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with an annual output of 40,000 tons in Yinzhou, Ningbo City. Many companies have also deployed silicon-based cathode materials. There are also prospects and improvement directions for silicon-based materials.

Shanshan total investment is 5 billion RMB

On June 28, Shanshan Co., Ltd. issued an announcement stating that the company’s board of directors agreed to the construction of an integrated base project of silicon-based anode materials for lithium-ion batteries with an annual output of 40,000 tons in Yinzhou, Ningbo City, a subsidiary of Shanghai Shanshan Lithium Battery Materials Technology Co., Ltd. The project plan The total investment amount is 5 billion RMB.

It is understood that the project will be constructed in two phases. The planned annual production capacity of the first phase is 10,000 tons. The construction period is expected to be 12 months (from the time the construction permit is obtained, and the construction is expected to start at the end of 2022). The planned annual production capacity of the second phase is 30,000 tons. The construction period is expected to be 12 months (from the time the construction permit is obtained, the construction is expected to start at the end of 2024).

Regarding the impact of this foreign investment on the listed company, Shanshan said that after the completion of the project, it will help the company to fully meet the new needs of customers, continuously improve the leadership of products and technologies, and help the company to establish the integration of silicon-based anode materials. The advantage of production capacity scale greatly enhances the company’s core competitiveness.

Shanshan Co., Ltd. is one of the few companies in the world that can mass-produce silicon-based anode materials. The company has a certain scale of silicon-based anode materials production capacity, and related products have passed the system certification of core customers at home and abroad and began to supply in batches .

The prospect of silicon-based anodes

It is understood that silicon-based anodes mainly refer to graphite-doped silicon composite materials, and doped products include silicon-carbon (Si/C) anode materials and silicon-oxygen (SiO/C) anode materials. Silicon-based anode materials are called ideal next-generation anode materials. An important reason is that the theoretical specific capacity of silicon materials is as high as 4200mAh/g, which is more than 10 times that of graphite, which can greatly improve the energy density of lithium ion battery.

With the increasing market demand for high-energy fast charging battery and the mass production of Tesla’s 4680 battery, silicon-based anode materials will usher in an explosion.

It is estimated that the shipment of silicon-based anodes will reach 98,000 tons in 2025, corresponding to a market size of about 15 billion RMB, of which power battery shipments are 87,000 tons, corresponding to a market size of 13.2 billion RMB, accounting for 88%.

Chinese enterprise layout

Optimistic about the prospects of silicon-based anode materials. Since the beginning of this year, in addition to Shanshan in Top 10 anode material manufacturers, Chinese companies have made arrangements for it. At the same time, a number of silicon anode material projects have started.

On the afternoon of January 18, Amprius (Nanjing) Co., Ltd. signed a contract and broke ground for the new silicon anode material production base project with an annual output of 20,000 tons in Lujiang High-tech Zone, Hefei, Anhui Province. The total investment of the project is about 2 billion RMB and will be completed in three phases. The first phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of 2022.

On March 31, the signing ceremony of the Chongqing Jinhui Energy 100,000-ton anode material project was held at the Chengdu Century City International Conference Center. The project plans to invest 1.5 billion RMB and plans to build an integrated production base of 100,000 tons, including 15,000 tons of silicon base.

In April, it was reported that Betterray successfully won an industrial land in Guangming District, Shenzhen. According to the previously disclosed investment plan, the company will invest 5 billion RMB to build a silicon-based anode material project with an annual output of 40,000 tons.

The first phase of 15,000 tons will be completed and put into operation by the end of December 2023, and the production capacity of 40,000 tons will be fully realized by 2028. The product is pure silicon.

On April 20, Tianmu Pilot Nano-Silicon-based Anode Project started in Liyang City, Jiangsu Province. The total investment of the project is 2 billion RMB, and the first phase of the project has an investment of 1 billion RMB. After reaching production, it can produce 50,000 tons of new nano-silicon-based anode products per year.

On May 4, Shida Shenghua announced that it plans to establish a joint venture subsidiary Shenghua New Material Technology (Meishan) Co., Ltd. with Dongying Yingjia Heyi Industrial Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), an employee shareholding platform, to invest in Sichuan Meishan High-tech Industrial Park Build a 30,000-ton/year silicon-based anode project. The total investment of the project is about RMB 1.1 billion, the construction period is 24 months, and it is expected to be put into operation in April 2024.

In addition, Guoxuan Hi-Tech in Top 10 lithium ion battery manufacturers in China, Xiangfenghua, etc. have also carried out research and development of silicon-based anode technology, and are actively promoting industrialization. According to reports, Betterui, Shanshan and Shi Dashenghua have all achieved mass production of silicon-based anodes, and companies such as Putailai and Sibao Technology are in the layout, pilot test or R&D stage.

Improvement direction of silicon-based materials

It is worth noting that silicon-based materials still have problems such as serious volume expansion during charge and discharge and low first charge efficiency. Pre-lithiation and material-end optimization are the way forward.

Specifically, pre-lithiation refers to adding lithium to the inside of the lithium-ion battery to supplement lithium ions before the lithium-ion battery works, which can increase the active lithium content of the lithium-ion battery during the cycle process, which is conducive to adjusting the formation of the SEI film on the negative electrode surface in advance.

The main improvement methods of silicon carbon materials include improving carbon materials and adding new materials. At present, the improvement direction of silicon-based materials includes the selection of silicon-carbon (Si-C) composite materials or silicon-oxygen (SiO-C) composite materials, or new conductive materials such as nano-carbon and graphene.

It is foreseeable that with the improvement of battery technology, silicon-based anodes will be used in more and more fields in the future, and companies will also accelerate their deployment. The silicon-carbon anode material market may usher in new development space.