Why to develop cobalt free battery -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
Why do we need to develop a "cobalt free battery"? Cobalt free battery VS graphene battery technology. In the current era when new energy vehicles are developing in full swing, whoever can make a breakthrough in power lithium-ion battery technology can set off a wave of industry changes and take the lead in the new travel era. At present, the research on batteries can be roughly divided into solid state batteries, fuel power lithium batteries and "cobalt free batteries". These three types of batteries have indeed been broken through in recent years, and the most promising one is "cobalt free batteries".
Why do we need to develop a "cobalt free battery"?
1. The price of cobalt is expensive: relevant data shows that the total proven global cobalt metal reserves in 2018 are only 7.1 million tons, while the cobalt consumption of a Tesla Model 3 power lithium-ion battery may reach more than 10kg. Therefore, if recycling is not considered, the world will be "cobalt free" by 2026 at most. Therefore, cobalt is very expensive, accounting for about 10% of the cost of power lithium-ion batteries.
2. Cobalt mining problem: 52% of the 7.1 million tons of cobalt that has been verified are in Congo, and the political situation in Congo is messy. The problem of child labor with "black workers" is serious, which is not in line with humanitarian requirements at all. Musk even described the ternary lithium ion battery as "a battery with blood". Therefore, from all aspects, "Cobalt free battery" is also something that everyone should work hard to develop.
3. As a scarce resource, the price fluctuation of cobalt will greatly affect the price of ternary materials. If the output of new energy vehicles rises further, it means that the cobalt price may rise sharply again. Battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times, Panasonic and LG Chemical are all striving to implement cobalt free battery, but they have not yet achieved this.
4. Cobalt free battery can not only improve the electrical performance, life and safety, but also reduce the cost and get rid of the dependence of positive materials on cobalt. In the existing ternary system of lithium-ion power lithium-ion batteries, the cost of cathode materials accounts for 30%~45%. Taking 523 system as an example, cobalt accounts for 20%. As a strategic resource, the price fluctuation of cobalt will directly affect the cost of the final cell.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
Cobalt free battery VS graphene battery technology
At present, many battery suppliers and automobile enterprises regard cobalt free batteries as the development direction in the future, which is also one of the critical means to effectively reduce the cost of ternary lithium ion batteries in a short period of time. In general, it is relatively reliable. However, there are also some car enterprises that choose to explore new ways to make a big difference, such as the graphene battery recently announced by GAC New Energy.
Samsung Group and others had previously announced that they would develop graphene batteries, but they all ended up in failure. Up to now, there is no real graphene powered lithium-ion battery on the market. Only BYD Qin and Tang have the effect of conductive additives through graphene modification (graphene powder is added to the manufacturing process of electrode materials). Even so, the requirements for the manufacturing process have been very high, leading to the fact that this technology path is still not widely used.
At present, almost all commercial lithium-ion batteries use graphite anode materials. When the performance of the cathode is similar, the performance of the lithium-ion battery largely depends on the cathode material. Therefore, graphene may be used in the battery as either the anode or the cathode. Since the cost of graphene is thousands of times that of previous materials, no manufacturer will replace all the materials of one electrode with graphene, Therefore, there is basically no graphene battery, only "lithium ion battery/lead-acid battery doped with/using graphene".
In brief, there are two keys to cobalt free core: one is to reduce the phenomenon of electron super exchange by doping specific elements without unpaired electron spins, thus reducing the mixing of lithium and nickel elements; The other is to stabilize the structure by doping elements with large M-O bond energy, thus slowing down the volume change of the crystal in the charge discharge process.
No matter how the route of battery technology changes, its fundamental purpose is to make electric vehicles charging fast, safe and far away. The emergence of multiple routes also shows that there is still no optimal solution for the current technical road. In China, we hope to find a way to overtake on curves and have more imagination, which is the driving force of human social progress.
Why do we need to develop a "cobalt free battery"?
1. The price of cobalt is expensive: relevant data shows that the total proven global cobalt metal reserves in 2018 are only 7.1 million tons, while the cobalt consumption of a Tesla Model 3 power lithium-ion battery may reach more than 10kg. Therefore, if recycling is not considered, the world will be "cobalt free" by 2026 at most. Therefore, cobalt is very expensive, accounting for about 10% of the cost of power lithium-ion batteries.
2. Cobalt mining problem: 52% of the 7.1 million tons of cobalt that has been verified are in Congo, and the political situation in Congo is messy. The problem of child labor with "black workers" is serious, which is not in line with humanitarian requirements at all. Musk even described the ternary lithium ion battery as "a battery with blood". Therefore, from all aspects, "Cobalt free battery" is also something that everyone should work hard to develop.
3. As a scarce resource, the price fluctuation of cobalt will greatly affect the price of ternary materials. If the output of new energy vehicles rises further, it means that the cobalt price may rise sharply again. Battery manufacturers such as Ningde Times, Panasonic and LG Chemical are all striving to implement cobalt free battery, but they have not yet achieved this.
4. Cobalt free battery can not only improve the electrical performance, life and safety, but also reduce the cost and get rid of the dependence of positive materials on cobalt. In the existing ternary system of lithium-ion power lithium-ion batteries, the cost of cathode materials accounts for 30%~45%. Taking 523 system as an example, cobalt accounts for 20%. As a strategic resource, the price fluctuation of cobalt will directly affect the cost of the final cell.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
Cobalt free battery VS graphene battery technology
At present, many battery suppliers and automobile enterprises regard cobalt free batteries as the development direction in the future, which is also one of the critical means to effectively reduce the cost of ternary lithium ion batteries in a short period of time. In general, it is relatively reliable. However, there are also some car enterprises that choose to explore new ways to make a big difference, such as the graphene battery recently announced by GAC New Energy.
Samsung Group and others had previously announced that they would develop graphene batteries, but they all ended up in failure. Up to now, there is no real graphene powered lithium-ion battery on the market. Only BYD Qin and Tang have the effect of conductive additives through graphene modification (graphene powder is added to the manufacturing process of electrode materials). Even so, the requirements for the manufacturing process have been very high, leading to the fact that this technology path is still not widely used.
At present, almost all commercial lithium-ion batteries use graphite anode materials. When the performance of the cathode is similar, the performance of the lithium-ion battery largely depends on the cathode material. Therefore, graphene may be used in the battery as either the anode or the cathode. Since the cost of graphene is thousands of times that of previous materials, no manufacturer will replace all the materials of one electrode with graphene, Therefore, there is basically no graphene battery, only "lithium ion battery/lead-acid battery doped with/using graphene".
In brief, there are two keys to cobalt free core: one is to reduce the phenomenon of electron super exchange by doping specific elements without unpaired electron spins, thus reducing the mixing of lithium and nickel elements; The other is to stabilize the structure by doping elements with large M-O bond energy, thus slowing down the volume change of the crystal in the charge discharge process.
No matter how the route of battery technology changes, its fundamental purpose is to make electric vehicles charging fast, safe and far away. The emergence of multiple routes also shows that there is still no optimal solution for the current technical road. In China, we hope to find a way to overtake on curves and have more imagination, which is the driving force of human social progress.
