Lithium-ion battery ternary material technology concerns -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
According to the "China Nonferrous Metals News" report, at the sixth council meeting of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, Secretary-General Liu Yanlong particularly emphasized the layout of lithium battery ternary materials patent technology. He pointed out that under the general trend of ternary lithium batteries, especially high-nickel ternary batteries, many domestic cathode material companies are facing huge foreign patent fees in their development.
So, what is the current status of the domestic lithium battery ternary material patent technology layout?
The overall research atmosphere is not strong
Some professionals have made statistics on domestic and foreign patents in the field of ternary materials. The results show that: first, the development of domestic ternary materials started late, and the basic and core patents are lacking, and there is still a big gap with Japanese and Korean companies and 3M companies in the United States.
For example, on November 15, 2005, 3M Company obtained the U.S. patent US6964828B2 and its patent family CN100403585C on NiCoMn ternary materials, which mainly limited the content of Ni in NiCoMn and became the basic core patent of ternary materials, which has restricted the With the development of ternary materials in China's lithium battery industry.
Secondly, the patents surrounding the modification of ternary materials are mainly to improve the electrochemical performance, but the safety and cost issues have not been effectively broken through. In contrast to the rapid growth of invention patents for improving electrochemical performance, the number of applications for safety and cost reduction of ternary materials has grown slowly. This also shows that under the circumstance that R&D investment has increased significantly and battery safety is very important, the safety and cost issues of ternary materials have not been effectively broken through.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
Taking the invention patent "Preparation method of titanium sol coating modified ternary cathode material" of a domestic research institute as an example, the invention patent modifies the ternary cathode material by optimizing the coating process, which can effectively improve the first Coulomb of the material. efficiency and discharge specific capacity, but no significant improvement in other aspects such as the material's cycle performance. In addition, the coating process also uses a large amount of alcohol, which requires high process equipment and workshop conditions (explosion-proof workshop), and the recycling of alcohol requires additional processing costs.
Based on the above analysis, the agency believes that there are two points that need domestic cathode material enterprises to focus on: First, domestic ternary material patent applications are relatively scattered, especially leading enterprises are less involved, the overall research atmosphere is not strong, and domestic enterprises need to pay attention to cathode materials. R&D and protection of intellectual property rights; Second, there is a large room for development in the safety and cost of ternary materials. The layout of foreign applicants is not perfect. If domestic enterprises can increase investment in research and development in these areas and master core patents as soon as possible, it is possible to achieve "curve overtaking" in the field of ternary materials.
Patent licensing or helplessness
The industry consensus is that domestic cathode material companies should not only pay attention to independent research and development and the protection of intellectual property rights, but also the patent licensing between companies is an option for the sustainable development of the industry. The recent patent layout of cathode material companies is as follows:
In January 2018 and November 2017, the German chemical company BASF announced the grant of a sub-license to Ruixiang New Materials and Peking University Pioneer on the nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode material related patents of Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. After the authorization, the two companies can manufacture, use, sell, offer to sell, distribute and import nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode materials in the U.S. market.
On January 29, Dow Chemical Company of the United States and Shanghai Huayi (Group) Company signed a technology license agreement, and Dow non-exclusively authorized two core technologies of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron manganese phosphate (LMFP) and lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC).
So, what is the current status of the domestic lithium battery ternary material patent technology layout?
The overall research atmosphere is not strong
Some professionals have made statistics on domestic and foreign patents in the field of ternary materials. The results show that: first, the development of domestic ternary materials started late, and the basic and core patents are lacking, and there is still a big gap with Japanese and Korean companies and 3M companies in the United States.
For example, on November 15, 2005, 3M Company obtained the U.S. patent US6964828B2 and its patent family CN100403585C on NiCoMn ternary materials, which mainly limited the content of Ni in NiCoMn and became the basic core patent of ternary materials, which has restricted the With the development of ternary materials in China's lithium battery industry.
Secondly, the patents surrounding the modification of ternary materials are mainly to improve the electrochemical performance, but the safety and cost issues have not been effectively broken through. In contrast to the rapid growth of invention patents for improving electrochemical performance, the number of applications for safety and cost reduction of ternary materials has grown slowly. This also shows that under the circumstance that R&D investment has increased significantly and battery safety is very important, the safety and cost issues of ternary materials have not been effectively broken through.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
Taking the invention patent "Preparation method of titanium sol coating modified ternary cathode material" of a domestic research institute as an example, the invention patent modifies the ternary cathode material by optimizing the coating process, which can effectively improve the first Coulomb of the material. efficiency and discharge specific capacity, but no significant improvement in other aspects such as the material's cycle performance. In addition, the coating process also uses a large amount of alcohol, which requires high process equipment and workshop conditions (explosion-proof workshop), and the recycling of alcohol requires additional processing costs.
Based on the above analysis, the agency believes that there are two points that need domestic cathode material enterprises to focus on: First, domestic ternary material patent applications are relatively scattered, especially leading enterprises are less involved, the overall research atmosphere is not strong, and domestic enterprises need to pay attention to cathode materials. R&D and protection of intellectual property rights; Second, there is a large room for development in the safety and cost of ternary materials. The layout of foreign applicants is not perfect. If domestic enterprises can increase investment in research and development in these areas and master core patents as soon as possible, it is possible to achieve "curve overtaking" in the field of ternary materials.
Patent licensing or helplessness
The industry consensus is that domestic cathode material companies should not only pay attention to independent research and development and the protection of intellectual property rights, but also the patent licensing between companies is an option for the sustainable development of the industry. The recent patent layout of cathode material companies is as follows:
In January 2018 and November 2017, the German chemical company BASF announced the grant of a sub-license to Ruixiang New Materials and Peking University Pioneer on the nickel-cobalt-manganese (NCM) cathode material related patents of Argonne National Laboratory in the United States. After the authorization, the two companies can manufacture, use, sell, offer to sell, distribute and import nickel-cobalt-manganese cathode materials in the U.S. market.
On January 29, Dow Chemical Company of the United States and Shanghai Huayi (Group) Company signed a technology license agreement, and Dow non-exclusively authorized two core technologies of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries: lithium iron manganese phosphate (LMFP) and lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (NMC).
