new electrode materials for lithium ion batteries - 2012

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New Electrode Materials for

Lithium-Ion Batteries–2012

Nano-503

Published January 2012

© NanoMarkets, LC

NanoMarkets, LC PO Box 3840 Glen Allen, VA 23058 Tel: 804-270-1718 Web: www.nanomarkets.net


www.nanomarkets.net

Entire contents copyright NanoMarkets, LC. The information contained in this report is based

on the best information available to us, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed.

NanoMarkets, LC and its author(s) shall not stand liable for possible errors of fact or judgment.

The information in this report is for the exclusive use of representative purchasing companies

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Reproduction in whole or in any part is prohibited, except with the express written permission

of NanoMarkets, LC.


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Table of Contents

Executive Summary

E.1 Summary of Opportunities from New Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

E.1.1 Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO)

E.1.2 Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)

E.1.3 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)

E.1.4 Nickel Cobalt Alumina (NCA) and Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)

E.1.5 Graphite and Its Replacements

E.2 Materials Suppliers to Watch in this Space

E.3 Roadmap for Lithium-Ion Battery Materials and Eight-Year Market Forecast

E.3.1 Features Required for Competitive Benefit

E.4 Concluding Remarks on Market Strategies

Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Background to Report

1.1.1 The Importance of Electrodes for Lithium Battery Performance Improvement

1.2 Objectives and Scope of this Report

1.3 Methodology of this Report

1.4 Plan of this Report

Chapter Two: Market Requirements and Opportunities for Novel Lithium-Ion Battery

Electrode Materials

2.1 Consumer Electronics, Computing and Communications Applications Trends for Lithium-

Ion Batteries

2.1.1 Impact of Market Trends on Electrode Material Requirements

2.2 Power Tools


2.3 Electric Vehicles and Other Automotive Applications


2.4 Smart Grids


2.5 Military and Aerospace Applications



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2.6 Other Lithium-Ion Battery Applications and their Impact on Electrode Material

Requirements

2.6.1 Medical Markets

2.6.2 Data Communications Markets

2.6.3 Other Applications

2.7 Key Points from this Chapter

Chapter Three: New Materials for the Lithium-Ion Battery Industry

3.1 Why the Lithium-Ion Battery Industry Needs Better Materials

3.1.1 EV and Smart Grid Market Requirements: Nascent Markets

3.1.2 Impact on the Battery and Battery Materials Market

3.2 Anode Materials

3.2.1 The Future of Graphite

3.2.2 Nanostructured Carbon and its Variants

3.2.3 Nanostructured Silicon and Its Variants

3.2.4 Titanates

3.2.5 Vanadium Oxides

3.2.6 Opportunity Analysis

3.2.7 Survey and Assessment of Firms Supplying Novel Anode Materials

3.3 Cathode Materials

3.3.1 Lithium Manganese Spinel

3.3.2 Advanced Lithium Iron Phosphates

3.3.3 Mixed Metal Oxides

3.3.4 Nickel Cobalt Alumina

3.3.5 Opportunity Analysis

3.3.6 Survey and Assessment of Firms Supplying Novel Cathode Materials

3.4 Key Points from this Chapter

Chapter Four: Eight-Year Forecasts

4.1 Forecasting Methodology

4.1.1 Impact of Industry/Application Maturity

4.1.2 Important Industry Sectors

4.1.3 Alternative Scenarios

4.2 Forecast by Application

4.2.1 Consumer Electronics

4.2.2 Power Tools

4.2.3 Electric Vehicles

4.2.4 Smart Grids and Stationary Applications

4.2.5 Military and Aerospace Applications


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4.3 Forecast by Material

Acronyms and Abbreviations Used In this Report

About the Author

List of Exhibits Exhibit E-1: Firms to Watch in the Lithium Battery Industry ......................................................................................... 5

Exhibit E-2: Total Electrode Materials for the Lithium-ion Industry ............................................................................. 7

Exhibit E-3: Total Value of Electrode Materials for Lithium-ion Industry by Application ($ Millions) .......................... 8

Exhibit E-4: Total Electrode Material for Lithium-ion Industry by Application (Metric Tonnes) ................................... 8

Exhibit 3-1: Firms Producing Anode Materials ............................................................................................................ 44

Exhibit 3-2: Survey of Firms Supplying Novel Cathode Materials ................................................................................ 52

Exhibit 4-1: Electrode Materials for the Consumer Electronics Segment ................................................................... 60

Exhibit 4-2: Electrode Materials for the Power Tools Segment ................................................................................... 64

Exhibit 4-3: Electrode Materials for the Electric Vehicles Segment ............................................................................ 67

Exhibit 4-4: Electrode Materials for the Smart Grids and Stationary Applications Segment ...................................... 70

Exhibit 4-5: Electrode Materials for the Military and Aerospace Segment ................................................................ 73

Exhibit 4-6: Electrode Materials for the Lithium-ion Industry ..................................................................................... 76


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Executive Summary

E.1 Summary of Opportunities from New Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

There are certain characteristics that the lithium-ion battery brings to the table that have made

it widely used. These batteries have high energy densities at a high operating voltage, providing

significantly longer battery life in smaller form factors than competitive battery chemistries.

They also have low self-discharge rate and low memory effects on recharging after a partial

discharge.

Currently the lithium-ion battery is a well established market standard for use in consumer

devices and various industrial applications, and is a promising candidate for use in electric

vehicles (EVs) and potentially Smart Grids. However, the fact that the lithium-ion battery hasn't

had a strong performance boost in recent years leaves the door open for other battery

chemistries to make strong cases for themselves.

There are inherent trade-offs when attempting to improve the performance of the lithium-ion

battery, and this makes it nearly impossible to find a material improvement that will provide an

improvement on all fronts. Each technology addresses the needs of particular market

segments, and with targeted efforts, material developers will see a real revenue opportunity

from potentially high volume and/or high growth market segments.

NanoMarkets believes that the lithium-ion battery industry is poised to see significant

additional growth over the next decade. One driver for this is that lithium-ion batteries appear

to be slated to serve the needs of a number of rapidly growing end-user segments. But the

lithium-ion battery also has some issues that need to be improved upon:

Lithium ion is conventionally a low-output power chemistry. However, a materials

innovation has already addressed this fact and in fact allowed it to enter higher power

market segments.

Lithium ion is also a comparatively "unsafe" chemistry, susceptible to thermal runaway

leading to explosions. Although this aspect has been addressed through materials

improvements in the past as well as safety circuitry, there is still much room for

improvement, especially if it is to expand into markets with more stringent

requirements.

Lithium ion is also an expensive chemistry (largely driven by the price of the electrode

raw materials used).


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As the lithium-ion battery segment expands, NanoMarkets believes that significant

improvements in performance will be produced through novel electrode materials, and

developers and manufacturers of such materials will therefore see significant new business

revenues going forward.

E.1.1 Lithium Cobalt Oxide (LCO)

Lithium cobalt oxide is currently the cathode material of choice for most portable electronics

(and indeed for any application that requires a high energy density). This material generates by

far the largest revenues of any of the materials considered in this report and despite the fact

that this material is gradually being replaced by other materials, LCO will still generate $2.0

billion in revenues in 2012 growing to twice that amount by the end of the forecasting period.

The fact that LCO is declining slowly as a share of materials consumed by the lithium-ion battery

sector is a testament to the fact that it is quite hard to replace and that the safety of this

material has improved somewhat. And despite the decline, NanoMarkets thinks that there are

still some opportunities to be exploited in this materials sector.

In particular the development of processes that use this material and are focused on increasing

the energy density of the cell, would seem to have some new business potential attached to

them. The combination of a familiar material and improved performance would, we believe, be

very attractive in this market, unless and until next generation materials are fully

commercialized for LCO.

E.1.2 Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO)

At the present time the only other cathode material that is selling at levels that are likely to

produce respectable short-term revenues for materials firms is lithium-manganese oxide

(LMO). However, with almost $700 million in revenues slated for the final year of the forecast

period, NanoMarkets believes that this material could produce some important opportunities

going forward.

The key point here is that manganese-based cathode materials have enabled the lithium-ion

battery to expand its addressable markets to higher performance applications. Moving to

manganese-based cathodes has already allowed the lithium-ion battery to see quite an increase

in revenue in the power tools segment to the point where it now can claim a sizeable market

share. For example, being able to power a cordless buzz saw was out of the capability of the

lithium-ion battery when it first entered the market because of the limitations inherent to its

cathode material.


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These higher performing segments (EVs and Smart Grids, for example) are exactly where

NanoMarkets expects to see considerable growth for lithium-ion batteries going forward, so

this fact will help define the future opportunities for manganese cathodes. Our projections

suggest that most of the LMO opportunities going forward will be found in the EV segment, so

they are highly dependent on the future of this applications sector.

E.1.3 Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP)

At the present time, LFP is little more than a research material. However, we believe that by

2015 this material will experience enough demand to make it of considerable interest to firms

selling electrode materials into the battery segment. In the last few years of the forecast period

NanoMarkets sees this material growing fast enough to make it the second largest sector in the

cathode materials market.

LFP is just beginning to pay off after several years of R&D work and is a major rival to LMO

going forward, we believe. While the value proposition of LFP is similar to LMO it is generally

considered to be a safer material; which is obviously a significant selling feature and we think

that this newer material will catch on especially in the EV and power tools market, especially

the former.

E.1.4 Nickel Cobalt Alumina (NCA) and Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC)

Composites such as nickel-cobalt-alumina and nickel-manganese-cobalt are essentially less

expensive replacements for lithium cobalt oxide, and an attempt to improve the energy density

of the cell. However, there are limits on how much these materials can be brought down in

cost because they contain cobalt and their safety has been questioned for high-power

applications like electric vehicles.

The biggest opportunity in this sector will emerge for NMC material, which will mostly find a

market in the consumer and (to a much greater extent) in the EV segment. NCA is not going to

see much use until the end of the forecasting period and the main application sector will be in

consumer electronics markets.

E.1.5 Graphite and Its Replacements

Graphite is by far the most important anode material used in lithium-ion batteries in terms of

revenues and these revenues are expected to almost triple by the end of the forecast period;

primarily reflecting the underlying growth in the market for conventional lithium-ion batteries.

Nonetheless, NanoMarkets believes that there is still an opportunity to replace graphite as the

industry standard material, but this opportunity is not likely to produce potential revenue levels

that could be considered high enough to build a sizeable business on until quite late in the


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forecasting period. In our forecasts, we specifically predict the potential revenues for lithium

titanate and silicon.

What researchers are primarily looking for in their search for a replacement to graphite are

materials that have an enhanced ability to hold lithium ions. Silicon, nanostructured carbon and

oxides of titanium and vanadium have been identified as viable alternatives to graphite for this

enhanced ability. Silicon has the highest theoretical capacity for lithium ions, but until recently

has had problems with durability. The silicon anode is a materials technology that is being

pioneered by smaller, early stage companies hoping to make a quick and strong impact in the

industry.

Silicon is expected to make forays into the consumer electronics market segment in the early

portion of the forecast period, mostly backed by large companies like Panasonic. This is a

segment where they know that the improvement to energy density that silicon provides can be

leveraged. It will also allow them to ramp up production and evaluate its viability for other

market segments. Smaller companies developing novel silicon solutions can be expected to

license out their silicon technology in the early phase of this forecast period. This will allow

them to see some early revenue before they can ramp up production to target high-growth

segments like the electric vehicle market.

The other materials that challenge graphite in this context are mainly being developed by larger

companies. Meanwhile, while some new business revenues will be generated by firms who

come up with novel ways to approach graphite processing and structure; this represents the

opportunities in the next couple of years.

One reason why the alternatives to graphite are not likely to emerge until later in the forecast

period is that these new materials appear to be quite challenging in terms of commercial

development and, in any case, many of the companies that are developing novel anode

materials for lithium-ion batteries are still in their infancy.

And, before new anode replacements can become a paying business proposition, the new

anode technology will have to be shown to provide significant performance improvements

while not increasing the manufacturing costs of the anode. Silicon will likely be phased in to

the market in some sense, with silicon carbon composites, and silicon gradually becoming the

dominant material in the composite.

E.2 Materials Suppliers to Watch in this Space

Exhibit E-1 summarizes the firms that we believe should be watched in the lithium battery

space. These firms are certainly not the only firms that are active in this space, but represent

firms that we think have an especially strong value proposition.


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Exhibit E-1 Firms to Watch in the Lithium Battery Industry

Company (Cell/Materials)

Technology/ Materials

Strengths of the technology Market segments targeted

Anode Materials

Panasonic (Cell)

Silicon-carbon composite 18650 cell

30% improvement in energy density. Retains 80% capacity after 500 cycles.

Consumer electronics initially – notebook batteries. Can expand into EV segment in the future, while leveraging present revenue stream at present.

3M (Materials)

Amorphous Silicon

At least 20% improvement in energy density,

Consumer electronics, EV. In the process of development and manufacturing scale-up – pilot scale operation at present.

Amprius (Materials)

Silicon nanowires

Energy density improvements ranging from 1.4x-10x.

EV and consumer electronics. Recently received $25mill in Series B funding – goals are to deploy first commercial product and validate manufacturing process. Relatively longer timeline to market compared to other companies with similar product offerings.

Nexeon (Materials)

Silicon nano-structures

Energy density improvements: First generation – 1000mAh/g Second generation-3600mAh/g Low cost, "drop-in" solution

EV, consumer electronics, grid storage, medical. Materials manufacturers – building IP position and licensing technology to cell manufacturers. Investing in expanding manufacturing capabilities.

Altairnano (Materials)

Lithium Titanate Nano-structure

Safe, fast charging, 80% capacity retention after 1,000,000 partial depth-of-discharge cycles, 16000 cycles with full depth-of-discharge, high output power and temperature stability

EV and stationary applications – specifically remote UPS applications in challenging environments, Phoenix motorcars providing entry into the EV segment. Established manufacturing facilities with the potential to scale up.

Cathode Materials

Hitachi (Cells)

Manganese based composite

Long cycle life, high operating voltage

Grid storage, power tools. Relatively new technology so material is not much further than pilot line, but Hitachi has the resources to rapidly scale up production.

A123 (Cells)

Nano-phosphate (lithium iron phosphate)

Nanostructure improves conductivity, high power, longer cycle life, much improved safety, higher usable energy which addresses questions on energy density.

Transportation, storage and power tools - 90 MW sold for stationary storage, has already entered the power tools segment, entered and tested in EV applications in transit buses, proving applicability in industry. Strong IP position, dispute with Hydro-Quebec settled.

Envia Systems (Materials)

NMC (licensed from Argonne National Labs)

High energy density (twice that of lithium cobalt oxide), high usable capacity and long cycle life, stable at high operating voltages

Electric vehicles (strategic ties with General Motors), consumer electronics, military.

Saft (Cell)

NCA High energy density, long service life

Military and stationary storage.

© NanoMarkets 2012


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One takeaway from this Exhibit is that some very large firms are involved in this business. The

ones mentioned here are Panasonic, 3M, Hitachi and Saft. We think this is a measure of the

importance that is being attached to the lithium battery materials segment both in terms of

being a revenue generator and an enabler for the batteries themselves.

The most noticeable aspect of the smaller firms active in this space is that they seem to be

highly focused on nanomaterials. This approach, NanoMarkets believes, provides these firms

with the opportunity to develop relatively strong IP and provide solutions that are highly

distinguishable in the marketplace. Clearly, most of these smaller firms have a few years of

slogging away at R&D before they can be expected to produce large revenues.

E.3 Roadmap for Lithium-Ion Battery Materials and Eight-Year Market Forecast

Exhibit E-2 summarizes the market for lithium-ion battery materials over an eight-year period.

As the Exhibit shows this is already a substantial market, at $2.8 billion, and is expected to grow

to a much larger market, $8.2 billion, by the end of the forecasting period.

Much of that market growth is explained simply by the growth in the direct or indirect

addressable markets. That is to say that both existing markets for lithium-ion batteries

(consumer electronics) are likely to expand and new markets are likely to emerge (EVs).

However, this represents an "opportunity" that is beyond the ability of materials suppliers to

control. We also note that the automotive market for these batteries is highly uncertain and

that "pure" EV products are a very long way from being successful in the market.

The new materials opportunities have largely been explained above and will not be repeated

here. However, our forecasts in the Exhibit suggest that the opportunities presented by new

materials are quite dramatic. Thus at the present time, our forecasts suggest that about 30

percent by value of the materials market discussed in this report are currently represented by

new (i.e., not LCO or graphite) materials. By the end of the forecast period, we see that

number grow to around 50 percent. In money terms what we are talking about here is a new

materials opportunity worth just $257 million this year, but which will reach $2.8 billion in

2019. This is quite a dramatic change!

The roadmap for the lithium-ion battery materials discussed here is very much dependent on

the direction the lithium-ion industry takes in general. While the consumer electronics and

industrial power tools segments are established, steadily growing markets, the electric vehicles

and Smart Grids (and stationary applications) market segments have led to more conjecture,

with some forecasts predicting rapid growth in these segments that will spur materials

innovation and the demand for novel materials; and others being more skeptical.


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E.3.1 Features Required for Competitive Benefit

These revenues will be competed for along a number of dimensions. Safety and costs seem

especially important.

Exhibit E-2 Total Electrode Materials for the Lithium-ion Industry 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 TOTAL CELLS SOLD Revenue ($ Millions) Cathode LCO LMO LFP NMC NCA TOTAL Anode Graphite LTO Silicon TOTAL

GRAND TOTAL

Weight (Tonnes) Cathode LCO LMO LFP NMC NCA TOTAL Anode Graphite LTO Silicon TOTAL GRAND TOTAL © NanoMarkets 2012


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Exhibit E-3 Total Value of Electrode Materials for Lithium-ion Industry by Application ($ Millions)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Consumer Electronics Power Tools Electric Vehicles Smart Grids & Stationary Military & Aerospace Total Electrode Material Market

© NanoMarkets 2012

Exhibit E-4 Total Electrode Material for Lithium-ion Industry by Application (Metric Tonnes)

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Consumer Electronics Power Tools Electric Vehicles Smart Grids & Stationary Military & Aerospace Total Electrode Material Market © NanoMarkets 2012

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

$ M

illio

ns

© NanoMarkets, LC

Total Electrode Material Market for Lithium-ion Industry

Military & Aerospace

Smart Grids & Stationary

Electric Vehicles

Power Tools

Consumer Electronics


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Safety: Safety is a very big issue that needs to be addressed with high power requirements with

large cell packs and larger format batteries. These are employed in hybrid electric vehicles and

electric vehicles. This is a high-growth market where safety will be one of the key enablers that

allows the lithium-ion chemistry to be a significant part of it.

Costs: Decreasing the materials costs associated with lithium-ion battery production will go a

long way towards making the chemistry ubiquitous in emerging markets like the electric vehicle

and smart grids market. In fact, reducing battery costs associated with electric vehicles is a

market force that will push the adoption of electric vehicles in the market.

E.4 Concluding Remarks on Market Strategies

The military market segment—as it often does—offers a chance for firms in the new materials

space to try out new ideas, without having to ramp up to large volumes and with sales at

premium prices.

However, for smaller companies that don't have access to military/aerospace markets, there

are other strategic options:

One option for smaller companies pioneering novel technology that isn't at the stage of

volume production comes in the form of licensing agreements with larger

manufacturers. This will allow these smaller firms to get their product on the market

while leveraging their materials expertise.

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000M

etr

ic T

on

ne

s

© NanoMarkets, LC

Total Electrode Material for Lithium-ion Industry

Military & Aerospace

Smart Grids & Stationary

Electric Vehicles

Power Tools

Consumer Electronics


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Additionally, in market segments like the electric vehicle segment, partnerships with

manufacturers of the end product (in this case automobile manufacturers) will allow for

market exposure for new products, with development cost shared with the OEM/

automobile manufacturer.

Larger companies that are planning on launching silicon-based products can be expected to

leverage established production lines and revenue streams in order to get their product on the

market. This will allow for the market viability of the technology to be evaluated. They can take

advantage of the more established consumer electronics or power tools segments to ramp

production levels while seeing revenues, thereby preparing them to take advantage of the high

growth expected from emerging segments towards the latter half of the forecasting period.

To obtain a full copy of this report please contact NanoMarkets at [email protected] or

via telephone at (804) 938-0030 or visit us at www.nanomarkets.net.

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

$ M

illio

ns

© NanoMarkets, LC

Total Lithium-Ion Electrode Material Revenue

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.nanomarkets.net/


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Chapter One: Introduction

1.1 Background to Report

Lithium-ion batteries are a technology poised to see a large growth in revenue in the next five

years because of their potential in applications such as electric vehicles, consumer electronic

devices and Smart Grid applications. That there is a clamoring in the market for a drastic

improvement in lithium-ion battery technology is obvious to see:

EVs are trying to compete with the internal combustion engine, an established

technology that is likely not going to be beaten in the mass market anytime soon.

Smart and application laden consumer devices are rife and are only becoming more

application heavy which is a huge draw on battery life.

Additionally, power companies are pushing to respond to residential and industrial

energy needs with smart energy grids to reduce the number of brown outs and

blackouts and the ability to integrate renewable energy sources into the grid.

Of all the battery chemistries contending for a place in these markets, the lithium ion is

arguably the best poised to enter and capture sizeable portions of these segments or at least

has a fighting chance to do so, but a performance increase is necessary to assure this battery

chemistry gains a strong foothold.

1.1.1 The Importance of Electrodes for Lithium Battery Performance Improvement

A fact worth noting here is how mature the lithium-ion market is. It is not a market where

disruptive, performance enhancing technology is common. But with a sudden projected

increase in unit volume and performance demand, there is now potentially a very large market

that is not having its needs ideally met.

The realizable market opportunity exists because of the plateau that the current industry-

standard electrodes have reached. Technological innovation currently provides a minimal

increase in performance year to year in current lithium-ion batteries:

It is more processing improvements and improvements in cell design that have been

providing incremental improvements in battery performance in the recent past.

However, the performance demands of the market are growing at a pace too quick for

the tweaks that can be made to the current battery to match. This mismatch between


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the expectations and needs of the market and the inability of the current industrial state

of the art has provided a technological gap that needs to be filled. Since markets for the

lithium-ion battery is so heavily performance driven, a large opportunity here exists for

developers of anode and cathode materials.

To successfully enter and maintain its hold in the newer market segments listed above before

strong inroads are made by other battery chemistries, the lithium-ion battery, NanoMarkets

believes, needs materials advancements to propel it out of the performance plateau that the

current industry standard has found itself in. As a result, the time is ripe for a profound

improvement in the performance of the lithium-ion battery, and novel electrode materials are

being investigated to provide this:

The current graphite anode, and the lithium-cobalt cathode used in the most common

lithium-ion chemistry are at the point of being phased out because they are nearing the

limit of technological innovations that significantly improve their performance. The fact

that the lithium-ion battery hasn't had a strong performance boost in recent years

leaves the door open for other battery chemistries to make strong cases for themselves.

Nonetheless, there is no outstanding novel electrode material technology that has made

it to the production line and satisfies the expected increasing demands in battery

performance.

Additionally, certain technologies have proved to be better at addressing specific value

propositions. There are inherent tradeoffs when attempting to improve the

performance of the lithium-ion battery, and this makes it nearly impossible to find a

material improvement that will provide an improvement on all fronts. Each technology

addresses the needs of particular market segments, and with targeted efforts, material

developers will see a real revenue opportunity from potentially high volume and/or high

growth market segments.

The development of advanced materials that will replace the current state-of-the-art anodes

and cathodes is based on the improvement in energy density and/or (depending on the market

segment) power density provided to the battery. Having mentioned the "make or break" nature

of the energy and power density properties, it is important to note that each market segment

will identify certain key secondary properties that materials developers need to have a very

strong handle on. Weight, form factor, life cycle and environmental impact are a few such

examples. This is where product differentiation among electrode technologies will decide which

materials will excel in a given market segment. While the differences may be subtle between


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market segments, it is the deciding factor between materials producers not aligning the value

proposition of their product with the demand of their target market segment.

Cathode improvements: Cathode materials tend to provide more diversity in terms of the cell

characteristics they have an impact on. While anode materials are being investigated mostly to

improve the energy density of the cell, various cathode materials can either improve the energy

or the power density, provide faster charging times, more safety and/or lower costs.

The cathode reaction in the lithium-ion cell is also a safety concern, and while the potential to

improve the energy density must be considered, the stability of the materials in the cell

environment is a crucial concern.

A lithium-manganese based cathode is right now the furthest penetrating competitive

technology to the conventional lithium-cobalt cathode. Other materials that bear looking at

are:

Lithium iron phosphates and their derivatives.

Composites of nickel, manganese and cobalt are being developed specifically for the

automotive market segment. With development being pushed in tandem by established

companies in both the battery and automotive spaces, we can expect this technology to

be a frontrunner to capture the opportunity in that segment.

Anode improvements: Next generation anode technologies are typically identified by their

potential to hold lithium ions. In general, replacement anode materials have been less common

than those for cathode materials:

At this stage silicon, nanostructured carbon, and oxides of titanium and vanadium have

been identified as viable alternatives to graphite for this enhanced ability.

The metal oxide materials are seeing development in the labs of the larger, more

established materials suppliers, such as NEI and 3M. It can be expected that these

companies with experience in supplying to the battery industry are likely to tailor their

products to simply drop in to the present battery manufacturing production line.

Emerging companies may find it harder to do this.

Silicon has the highest theoretical capacity for lithium ions, but until recently has had

problems with durability. However, structural modifications to the silicon electrode

have let it become a potentially disruptive technology in this market. The silicon anode

is a materials technology that is being pioneered by smaller, early stage companies


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hoping to make a strong impact in the industry. While it has a longer development

timeline, its potential to make an impact is sizeable, making it a materials technology

worth investigating.

Nanomaterials: The manipulation of the physical structure of the active electrode material also

creates another opportunity in this space. In an effort to increase the surface area for the

storage of charge and to address issues with durability (due to the significant expansion and

contraction of some materials when they take up or release lithium ions), developers are using

processing techniques to create nanostructured versions of electrode materials.

Nanoparticles or nanotubes in the form of a powder are examples. The opportunity that could

be realizable here is for producers of binding materials that provide a conducting matrix in

which the nanostructures can be embedded. Binding materials are already being used in

batteries to hold together powder based electrodes and improve conductivity, and will

continue to see applicability as electrode materials are pushed towards powdered forms to

increase surface area for lithium-ion absorption.

Finally, a big question materials developers will need to answer as they see a realizable

opportunity before them in a very mature market is how they are going to integrate their

product into the production line of battery manufacturers.

The more established companies like Sony, Sanyo and Samsung will already have this in mind

when thinking of the materials they are developing but new entrants to this market will have

the added burden of creating manufacturing processes compatible with current production

processes unless they want to bear the manufacturing cost of the entire battery. A company's

approach to this challenge will be a significant product differentiator and will determine of

which market it can realistically meet the unit volume demands.

1.2 Objectives and Scope of this Report

The objective of this report is to identify and quantify the business revenue opportunities for

novel electrode materials in the various market segments that the lithium-ion battery caters to.

This is done through an analysis of the needs of these market segments and how each novel

material technology is best suited to satisfy those needs.

This report also provides granular eight-year market forecasts for electrode materials in the

lithium-ion battery industry and is international in scope. We have not been geographically

selective in the firms covered or interviewed for the purposes of compiling this report.


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1.3 Methodology of this Report

The information for this report is derived from a variety of sources, primarily from

NanoMarkets' interview program of technologists, business development managers and

academics associated with this field. An extensive search of the technical literature and relevant

company Web sites was also conducted.

The forecasting method used in this report is explained in detail in Chapter Four but the

fundamental approach is to identify the key market segments for the lithium-ion battery and

the needs of each customer base that electrode material can address. The driving forces within

each segment are looked at to judge the level of market penetration that each novel materials

technology can achieve within its target market segment.

1.4 Plan of this Report

Chapter Two will analyze the market requirement for novel lithium-ion battery electrode

materials as seen by the main market segments. Chapter Three will then go on to analyze the

new material technologies that are undergoing development in the lithium-ion space and the

opportunity each of these novel materials will see.

Finally, Chapter Four will go over our eight-year forecasts for these novel materials, both from

the point of view of the material system being developed as well as the applications that

present themselves.

new electrode materials for lithium ion batteries - 2012

Business

lithiumion battery materials

impact of market trends

lithiumion batteriespage

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lithiumion batteries2012

new electrode materials

market strategieschapter

battery materials market3