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Battery, Battery Materials, EV

<2022> Technology Trend and Market Outlook for Cathode Materials of Lithium-ion Secondary Batteries

 

 

 

Recently, the secondary battery market has been expanding from small IT application market to ESS and EV market, and accordingly demand for cathode materials in the secondary battery market is also expected to increase.

 

 

Lithium-ion secondary batteries were invented by Akira Yoshino of Japan around 1985 and were commercialized by Sony in 1991.The cathode materials used by Sony at that time is lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) (thereinafter, abbreviated as LCO). LCO as a cathode material in lithium-ion secondary batteries has nominal voltage of 3.7V. It is easily synthesized as a material in which lithium is intercalated and deintercalated. And it has relatively good life characteristics.So it is still widely used. However, problems of the LCO have begun to emerge. There are two major problems. LCO is very expensive due to Co, the major component of LCO, of which reserves are limited. Another problem is the performance of the material. At the ending period of charging, the battery capacity reaches max 150mAh/g, which is only about half the theoretical capacity due to LCO’s structural instability. For these reasons, it is difficult and disadvantageous to use LCO cathode material in large-size batteries for automobiles and power storage.

 

 

Accordingly, the cathode material that has improved these problems is lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05O2; thereinafter, referred to as NCA). And the newly developed cathode material is lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2; thereinafter, referred to as NCM). 3M invented it and holds the NCM111 patent. LG Chem also developed LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM 523) material in which the composition of NCM is partly adjusted. Recently, high Ni based cathode materials such as NCM622, NCM811, etc. have been studied widely.

 

 

 

There is also lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4; hereinafter referred to as LMO) that has spinel structure. Its capacity is 100mAh/g, which is lower than LCO, but it has good output characteristics and excellent safety. Moreover it is being applied to low-end products by taking advantage of its low price or it is partially blended into cathode materials for electric vehicles.

 

 

 

Finally, there is lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4; hereinafter referred to as FPO) with olivine structure. It has high structural stability but it has relatively low discharge voltage of about 3.5V. So, high-voltage olivine cathode material in which Fe is replaced with Mn or Ni is being widely studied.

 

 

 

Among the four major components (cathode, anode, electrolyte, and separator) of lithium-ion secondary batteries, cathode materials making up cathode account for about 30-40% of the total cost of lithium-ion secondary battery. Since the cost is considered the most important factor to commercialize large-sized lithium-ion secondary batteries, it is essential to improve the performance of cathode material and lower the price at the same time.

 

 

 

In 2022, 1,522,270 tons of cathode materials in total for LIBs were used globally. Chinese companies sold 911,010 tons of cathode materials taking up 59.8%, Korean companies sold 480,730 tons with 31.6% and Japanese companies sold 123,470 tons with 8.1%. In terms of cathode material type, NCM was sold the most with 44.9% 683,760 tons, followed by LFP with 30.6% 466,430 tons, NCA with 10.6% 160,910 tons, LCO with 8.5% 130,140 tons, and LMO with 5.3%, 81.030 tons.

 

 

According to the global shipment of lithium secondary battery cathode materials in 2022, the ranking in ternary cathode material shipment is in the order of Ecopro(Korea), Umicore(China), XTC(China), LGC(Korea), Ronbay(China), SMM(Japan), Nichia(Japan), L&F(Korea), Shan Shan(China), and CyLiCo(China).

 

China is showing dominance in LFP cathode material. The ranking is in the order of Hunan Yuneng (China), Dynanonic (China), Guoxuan (China), BTR (China), Lopal (China), Pulead (China), Wanrun (China), Anda (China), and Terui (China).

 

In the top 10 are three Korean companies including Umicore, two Japanese companies and five Chinese companies. And most of the companies in the top 20 are Chinese and they show remarkable growth.

 

 

 

As such, Korea, China and Japan are leading the global cathode material market. Chinese companies have emerged as dominating suppliers by increasing supply with the growth of Chinese major battery makers based on the domestic market. And Japanese companies are responding with advanced precursor technology to China's aggressive expansion. Korean cathode material companies are in a situation where they have to face price competition with Chinese companies and fiercely compete with Japanese companies for anode material and precursor technology.

 

 

 

In the future, the cathode material market is expected to experience fierce competition among the material companies in Korea, China and Japan along with massive growth of LIB in the global electric vehicle market.

 

 

 

This report describes the technology trend of various types of cathode material, especially the latest cathode material technology development trend based on Ni-rich NCM, cobalt-free cathode material technology, and single-particle cathode material technology development trend. It also covered precursors that are part of anode materials and mineral market. The number of cathode material companies that this report surveyed are 9 in Korea, 5 in Japan, and 15 in China.

 

 

 

This report analyzes the market trend from aspects of both demand and supply and analyzes supply chain in the industry by country, by company, and by cathode material type during the past five years. It also presents the market outlook and the price outlook for different types of cathode materials till 2030 with background of IT, xEV, and ESS market.

 

 

 

Strong points of this report;
- It informs the technology trend for Ni-rich NCM cathode materials, which have recently

 

 drawn much interest.

 

- It informs the recent technological trend for cobalt free and single-particle cathode  

 

 materials, which have recently drawn much interest.

 

- It informs not only about cathode materials but also about mineral market and mineral

 

 companies.

 

- It informs demand by cell companies, capacity expansion plan by the manufacturers and

 

 price in the cathode material market for lithium secondary batteries.

 

- It informs details of major makers in Korea, China, and Japan of lithium secondary battery

 

 cathode materials.

 

- It informs the status of usage of the four major materials in lithium battery manufacturers.

 

- It informs the trend of usage of cathode materials in the industry over the past five years

 

 from 2018 to 2022.

 

 

 

 

 

- Contents –

 


Chapter
. Status of Cathode Material Technology & Development Trend

 

1.    Introduction---------------------------------------------------------- 8

 

1.1   Status of Cathode Material Development------------------ 12

 

1.2   Design Criteria------------------------------------------------- 21

 

1.2.1      Ionic Bonding and Covalent Bonding

 

1.2.2      Mott-Hubbard Type and Charge Transfer Type

 

1.2.3      Concept of Charge transfer Reaction

 

in 3d Transition Metal Oxides

 

1.2.4      Concept of Diffusion in Solid Phase

 

and Two-Phase Coexistence Reaction

 

1.3 Characteristics required in Cathode Materials----------------------------- 32

 

2.    Types of Cathode Material---------------------------------------- 34

 

2.1   Layered Composites------------------------------------------- 34

 

2.1.1      LiCoO2

 

2.1.2      LiNiO2

 

2.1.3      LiMO2 (M = Fe, Mn)

 

2.1.4      Ni-Mn Based

 

2.1.5      Ni-Co-Mn 3-Component System

 

2.1.6      Li-rich layered compounds

 

2.2   Spinel based Composites------------------------------------- 64

 

2.2.1      LiMn2O4

 

2.2.2      LiMxMn2-xO4

 

2.3   Olivine based Composites------------------------------------ 69

 

2.3.1      LiFePO4

 

2.3.2      LiMPO4 (M = Mn, Co, Ni)

 

2.3.3      CTP (Cell-to-Pack) Technology

 

2.4   Low cost electrode materials-------------------------------- 81

 

2.4.1 NMX: Co-free Cathode materials

 

3.    Other cathode material-------------------------------------------- 88

 

3.1 Fluoride based composites----------------------------------- 88

 

 

 

Chapter . Ni-Rich NCM Technology

 

1.    Introduction--------------------------------------------------------- 95

 

2.    Issues of Ni-Rich NCM-------------------------------------------- 96

 

2.1   Cation mixing-------------------------------------------------- 98

 

2.2   H2-H3 Phase Change---------------------------------------- 102

 

2.3   Residual lithium compounds------------------------------- 105

 

3.    Solution to Ni-Rich NCM Issues-------------------------------- 105

 

3.1   Transition metal doping------------------------------------ 106

 

3.2   Surface modification---------------------------------------- 110

 

3.3   Concentration gradient structure-------------------------- 117

 

3.4   Single crystal approach: Long-Life Characteristics through Single Particles----------------------------------------------- 129

 

 

 

Chapter . Manufacturing Process of Cathode Materials----------- 135

 

1.    Manufacturing Process of Cathode Materials----------------- 135

 

1.1   Mixing--------------------------------------------------------- 137

 

1.2   Calcination---------------------------------------------------- 139

 

1.3   Crushing------------------------------------------------------- 140

 

1.4   Sieving-------------------------------------------------------- 142

 

1.5   Magnetic separation----------------------------------------- 143

 

2.    Manufacturing Process of Precursors-------------------------- 144

 

2.1   Production Flow of Ni based/ Production Flow of LFP- 145

 

2.2   Post Reactor/Reactor Process------------------------------ 147

 

3.    Evaluation of Cathode Material Characteristics--------------- 150

 

3.1   Chemical composition analysis-------------------------------- 150

 

3.2   Measurement of specific surface area------------------------ 150

 

3.3   Particle size measurement--------------------------------------- 150

 

3.4   Tap density measurement---------------------------------------- 151

 

3.5   Measurement of moisture content----------------------------- 151

 

3.6   Measurement of residual lithium carbonate----------------- 151

 

3.7   Thermal analysis---------------------------------------------------- 151

 

3.8   Particle strength---------------------------------------------------- 152

 

4.    Manufacturing process of cathode plate---------------------- 152

 

Chapter . Status of Cathode Material Manufacturers

 

1.    Korean Manufacturers------------------------------------------- 161

 

1.1  L&F------------------------------------------------------------- 162

 

1.2  Umicore Korea------------------------------------------------ 174

 

1.3  Ecopro BM---------------------------------------------------- 186

 

1.4  Cosmo AM&T------------------------------------------------- 203

 

1.5  Posco Chemical----------------------------------------------- 213

 

1.6  SM Lab--------------------------------------------------------- 228

 

1.7  Top materials------------------------------------------------- 233

 

1.8  LG Chem------------------------------------------------------- 237

 

1.9  SDI (STM)----------------------------------------------------- 247

 

2.    Japanese Manufacturers----------------------------------------- 254

 

2.1  Nichia---------------------------------------------------------- 255

 

2.2  Sumitomo Metal Mining------------------------------------ 262

 

2.3  Toda Kogyo--------------------------------------------------- 276

 

2.4  Mitsui Kinzoku------------------------------------------------ 285

 

2.5  Nippon Denko------------------------------------------------ 290

 

3.    Chinese Manufacturers------------------------------------------- 295

 

3.1  Reshine-------------------------------------------------------- 296

 

3.2  Shanshan------------------------------------------------------ 302

 

3.3  Easpring------------------------------------------------------- 310

 

3.4  B&M----------------------------------------------------------- 323

 

3.5  Pulead--------------------------------------------------------- 329

 

3.6  XTC------------------------------------------------------------- 333

 

3.7  ZEC------------------------------------------------------------- 339

 

3.8  CY Lico--------------------------------------------------------- 344

 

3.9  Ronbay--------------------------------------------------------- 348

 

3.10 Dynanonic--------------------------------------------------- 356

 

3.11 Guoxuan(Gotion)-------------------------------------------- 364

 

3.12 Hunan Yuneng---------------------------------------------- 371

 

3.13 Hubei Wanrun----------------------------------------------- 378

 

3.14 Chongqing Terui-------------------------------------------- 383

 

3.15 Anda---------------------------------------------------------- 387

 

2     Other Manufacturers-------------------------------------------------- 395

 

 

 

Chapter . Outlook for Global LIB Market (~2030)

 

1.    Outlook for global LIB market---------------------------------- 409

 

2.    Outlook for global small size LIB market for IT products--- 415

 

3.    Outlook for global mid size LIB market for EVs-------------- 418

 

4.    Outlook for global large size LIB market for ESS------------ 420

 

 

 

Chapter  . Market Status and Outlook for Cathode Materials

 

1.    Market demand of cathode materials------------------------- 422

 

1.1     Cathode material demand by country------------------- 423

 

1.2     Cathode material demand by material type------------ 425

 

1.3     Market status by cathode material manufacturer------ 427

 

1.4     Cathode material demand status by LIB company----- 436

 

1.4.1      Status for cathode material usage in SamsungSDI

 

1.4.2      Status for cathode material usage in LGES

 

1.4.3      Status for cathode material usage in SK on

 

1.4.4      Status for cathode material usage in Panasonic

 

1.4.5      Status for cathode material usage in CATL

 

1.4.6      Status for cathode material usage in ATL

 

1.4.7      Status for cathode material usage in BYD

 

1.4.8      Status for cathode material usage in Lishan

 

1.4.9      Status for cathode material usage in Guoxuan

 

1.4.10   Status for cathode material usage in AESC

 

1.5     Status for production capacity of cathode materials-- 511

 

1.6     Outlook for cathode material supply by material------ 514

 

1.7     Status of cathode material price------------------------- 516

 

1.7.1      Price structure of cathode materials-------------- 516

 

1.7.2      Status for cathode material price by type------- 518

 

1.7.3      Mineral market status------------------------------ 521

 

1.7.3.1  Nickel

 

1.7.3.2  Cobalt

 

1.7.3.3  Manganese

 

1.7.3.4  Lithium

 

 

 

Chapter. .  INDEX