The Industrialization of All-solid-state Batteries Is Accelerating

All-solid-state electrolytes are the key to achieving high safety, energy density, cycle life battery performance. According to the type of electrolyte, it can be mainly divided into three routes: inorganic sulfides, inorganic oxides, and organic polymers.

From the perspective of the global solid-state lithium battery layout route, European and American technologies are dominated by polymer electrolytes, and there are commercial products; The Asian technology is dominated by Japanese and South Korean inorganic ceramic thick film technology.

From the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of the three technical routes, the advantages of sulfide electrolyte are high conductivity, strength and processing performance, and good interface compatibility, but the disadvantages are poor compatibility with cathode materials, poor stability to lithium metal, sensitivity to oxygen and moisture, potential pollution problems, and high production process requirements.

At present, domestic battery manufacturers such as CATL, Guoxuan Hi-Tech, BYD, Zhongke Guneng, Enli Power, and Gaoneng Times, as well as international battery manufacturers such as Samsung SDI, Toyota, Panasonic, and SolidPower, all use sulfide electrolyte routes. In addition, according to Gaogong Lithium Battery, GAC, FAW and other OEMs are also actively contacting the sulfide all-solid-state route.

The oxide electrolyte has good comprehensive properties, and its advantages are wide electrochemical window, good thermal stability and high mechanical strength, while the disadvantages are difficult to process, poor interface compatibility and general conductivity. On the whole, the difficulty of preparation of oxide system is moderate, and many new players and domestic enterprises choose this route, and adopt the method of compounding with polymers to take the lead in large-scale loading of semi-solid-state batteries.

Including Penghui Energy, Qingtao Energy, Weilan New Energy, Zhejiang Fengli, Huineng Technology, QuantumScape and other domestic and foreign battery companies mainly use oxide electrolyte technology routes.

The advantages of polymer electrolytes are easy processing, production process compatibility, good interface compatibility, and good mechanical properties, but the disadvantages are low ionic conductivity at room temperature, slightly narrow electrochemical window, and limited improvement in thermal stability and energy density, which restricts their large-scale application.

At present, battery companies including Zhongke Deep Blue Huize, Xinwangda, Bollore, EMBatt, Solid Energy, Ionic Materials and other battery companies mainly use polymer electrolyte technology routes.

According to incomplete combing, from January to July this year, the new production capacity of solid-state batteries (including semi-solid-state batteries) has exceeded 142GWh, of which only about 1GWh is the new landing capacity, respectively from Huineng Technology's 0.5GWh/year oxide semi-solid-state battery production line (put into production) and Lingxin New Energy's 0.5GWh/year polymer semi-solid-state battery production line (mass-produced); The remainder is mainly based on planned production capacity. Most of the projects are below 10GWh, and the highest production capacity is planned to come from Hunan Jiusen Angao, which plans to achieve a total of 30GWh of solid-state battery production capacity in three phases.

With the increase of planned production capacity and the expansion of application scenarios, the manufacturing process of solid-state batteries (including semi-solid-state batteries) is also accelerating the pace of catching up.

Among them, Yifu Machinery has received orders for a number of well-known solid-state batteries and electrolyte sanding systems. Yifu has launched vertical ultra-fine grinding equipment to provide customers with ultra-fine nano grinding technology solutions, and at the same time has built a test line in the factory to explore and promote solid-state battery technology research with customers.

Overall, the development path of solid-state batteries is full of challenges and opportunities. In many aspects such as materials, processes, cost reduction and application, the industry is still exploring and making breakthroughs. At the same time, the promotion of the solid-state battery industry is also full of vitality and competition, and all parties are accelerating the layout.