This week, all employees in the lithium battery industry are sharing the same joy.

On October 9, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry would be awarded to John B. goodenough, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, M. Stanley Whittingham, a professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton, and Akira Yoshino, a professor at famous city university in Japan, in recognition of their "contributions to the invention of lithium batteries".

In the award speech, the Nobel Committee said that the three scientists invented a portable lithium battery, which can convert energy in a controllable way, and has a wide range of applications. This is a very potential technology.

Specifically, John B. goodineff is an American solid-state physicist. He made lithium batteries smaller, larger and more stable, thus realizing commercialization and starting the process of portability of electronic devices.

In 1980, gudinav and Japanese scholar Koichi Mizushima made a breakthrough in inventing lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2), the cathode material of lithium-ion batteries, which opened the door to the application of lithium batteries and took the lead in the field of portable electronic devices such as mobile phones and notebooks.

In 1997, gudinaf's team also invented LiFePO4 material. At present, lithium iron phosphate batteries have been widely used in electric vehicles, energy storage and other fields.

Gudinav is the inventor of cathode materials such as lithium cobalt oxide and lithium iron phosphate. He is one of the founders of lithium-ion batteries and is known as the "father of lithium-ion batteries" in the industry. In 2017, at the age of 94, gudinav created an "all solid state" lithium battery, which deserves the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

In 1976, M. Stanley wittingham discovered a very energy rich material in the process of studying superconductors and used it in lithium batteries. This material composed of titanium disulfide has a space that can accommodate lithium ions and can be used to make cathodes in lithium batteries.

Based on the discovery of M. Stanley wittingham, in the 1980s, gudinaf found that lithium cobalt oxide can be used as cathode material for lithium-ion batteries.

Japanese professor Akira Yoshino created the first commercially viable lithium-ion battery in 1985, making a significant contribution to the commercial application of lithium batteries.

In 1991, Sony adopted the goodineff theory to manufacture the first commercial lithium battery with lithium cobalt oxide material, which was mainly used in portable electronic devices, which affected people's daily life for more than 30 years and will continue.

Obviously, the current large-scale application of lithium-ion batteries in 3C digital, electric vehicles, electric bicycles, ships, aircraft, rail transit, energy storage and other fields all over the world is inseparable from the contributions made by these three experts in the basic research of lithium batteries.

The dedicated research spirit of the three experts for decades is also worth learning from all lithium battery practitioners, especially to settle down and make more efforts in basic research.

At present, China has become the largest lithium battery application market, and also the country with the fastest development of the power battery market, taking the lead in the world in terms of production capacity and installed capacity. However, there is still a big gap with the United States, Japan and South Korea in the basic research of lithium battery materials, lithium battery manufacturing technology and the R & D and training of lithium battery professionals.

In terms of patented technology, basic materials, core equipment and new materials and processes, there is a large gap between China's lithium battery industry and international top research institutions and enterprises.

The three experts who won this award are from the United States and Japan, which also shows the deep accumulation of lithium battery research in the United States and Japan, which is precisely what China's lithium battery industry lacks.

Under the pressure of declining subsidies and intensifying market competition, a large number of power battery enterprises have fallen into the development dilemma of sharp decline in orders and sharp decline in revenue and net profit.

In the international market, Japanese and Korean battery enterprises are still the main ones, and few Chinese battery enterprises can participate in the international market competition, which also reflects the competitive gap between Chinese and foreign battery enterprises.

Let's take a look at the new technologies and applications in the power battery industry this week.

1. Tesla's self-produced battery is the next city

Recently, foreign media reported that Tesla acquired the Canadian battery manufacturing equipment and engineering company "HIBAR systems" (hereinafter referred to as "Haiba"). Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, Haiba was founded in the 1970s.

In the field of secondary batteries, Haiba's products include precision metering pumps and liquid injection and distribution systems, automatic battery manufacturing and process equipment, custom packaging equipment, lithium-ion battery assembly and automatic vacuum filling systems.

At present, Tesla has listed Haiba as a subsidiary, which is the second battery manufacturing related enterprise it acquired this year.

2. Sanyo Huacheng will build an all resin battery factory

According to Japanese media reports, Takeo Ando, President of Sanyo Chemical Industry, pointed out that it plans to build a new lithium-ion battery mass production plant in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, with an estimated investment of about 15billion yen, and the production capacity will reach the "GWH" level. It is scheduled to activate production in 2021.

Sanyo Huacheng plans to mass produce the "full resin battery" jointly developed by APB, a start-up company from Keio University. The electrode / separator and other battery materials are replaced by resin from metal. Even if it is drilled or cut, it will not catch fire. The battery capacity will be more than twice that of the traditional battery, and because it is made of resin, the degree of freedom of shape is high. Sanyo Huacheng has used the pilot production line located in Aichi County for trial production.

3. Nano chain anode improves battery life and charging speed

Foreign media reported that the research team of Purdue University has developed a new method to manufacture battery electrodes, so as to improve the cycle life of the battery and shorten the charging time.

The method is to convert the traditional graphite material used to make electrodes into metal like materials with nano chain structure. The team compared the antimony nano chain electrode with the graphite electrode, and found that with the antimony nano chain electrode, the coin sized battery took only 30 minutes to charge, while the lithium ion capacity doubled, and 100 charge and discharge cycles were carried out.

The Purdue University research team connected tiny single antimony particles into a nano chain shape by using a special reductant, aminoborane, and a nucleating agent, so that they could produce pores in the nano chain to adapt to material expansion and inhibit electrode failure.


Article source:High tech lithium power grid