Silicon Carbon Anode to Drive Silane Demand in Next-Gen Batteries

Silicon carbon anode is expected to become the second growth point of silane. According to the data disclosed by the Lithium Battery Research Institute of Gaogong Industry and Research Institute, the current silicon carbon anode technology has achieved breakthrough technical indicators such as a gram capacity of 1800mAh/g and a cycle performance of more than 1000 times. With the technological progress of silicon-carbon anode materials and the maturity of the industrial chain, the demand for silane in the silicon-carbon anode industry will grow rapidly year by year.

Silane Technology (838402), a leading supplier of electronic-grade silane gas in China, said in a survey a few days ago that every ton of silicon-carbon anode masterbatch produced by CVD (vapor phase deposition) The carbon negative electrode masterbatch and graphite and other materials are further compounded into a silicon carbon negative electrode material with a silicon doping rate of 5%-10%, which requires more than 0.6 tons of silane gas. Based on this calculation, the demand for silane gas for the Tianmu Pilot Project (with a production capacity of 10,000 tons in the first phase and 50,000 tons in the second phase) is about 36,000 tons.

In 2022, global sales of new energy vehicles will reach 10.65 million, a year-on-year increase of 63.6%; China’s sales of new energy vehicles will reach 6.887 million, a year-on-year increase of 93.4%. According to statistics from EV Sales, global new energy vehicle sales have maintained rapid growth, and global new energy vehicle sales will explode in 2021-2022. It is estimated that global new energy vehicle sales will reach 33.8 million by 2026.

With the continuous introduction of high-end bicycle models with electric charge and the increase in the demand for energy replenishment efficiency, the problem of the negative electrode as a “short board” for improving the energy density of batteries has become increasingly prominent. The specific capacity of silicon negative electrode is as high as 4200mAh/g, which is more than 10 times that of carbon-based materials. It is the negative electrode material with the highest specific capacity known so far. The advantage of high specific capacity makes silicon-based materials be regarded as ideal next-generation negative electrode materials. Benefiting from the policy drive and the increasing demand for long battery life and fast charging of new energy vehicle end consumers, it is expected that silicon-based anodes are expected to start explosive growth in the power market, with a compound annual growth rate of 120% in 2022-2025E.

Silane project staking

South Korea

Citing Korean media news in the gas circle, South Korea’s OCI company announced on the 26th that it has signed a long-term contract with the British company Nexeon to supply silane required for silicon-based battery materials for a period of five years from 2025. The first long-term supply contract is worth about 70 billion won (380 million yuan), and is expected to expand as the customer’s production increases. The OCI silane plant will be established using the idle space of its Gunsan plant. The project is planned to start construction within this year and put into commercial production in the first half of 2025.

Nexeon is a leading company in the field of silicon cathode materials for secondary batteries, and has more than 170 key patents for silicon-based materials for secondary batteries. The company recently signed a long-term silicon anode supply agreement with Panasonic, the world’s fourth-largest electric vehicle (EV) battery maker, and plans to secure corresponding production capacity.

OCI President Yoo-Shin Kim said: OCI will continue to actively invest in the fast-growing secondary battery material market to gain competitiveness and leadership. ”

Europe

The gas circle quoted foreign media news that Group14, an advanced global power battery company, has acquired Schmid Silicon, a European technology-advanced high-purity silane producer. Group14 will bring online Schmid Silicon’s advanced silane plant in Spretal, Germany, to support its expanding European operations. This milestone helps to insulate Group14’s customers and partners from potential supply chain disruptions, especially in the automotive industry, and enables the company to localize the manufacturing of integrated silicon cell technology in Europe.

In 2022, Group14 raised $614 million in a funding round led by Germany-based Porsche, which plans to use Group14’s technology in some of its electric vehicles. The Schmid Silicon plant is about a six-hour drive from Porsche’s headquarters and R&D center.

“Our acquisition of Schmid Silicon’s energy-efficient process technology and factory is a natural step as we continue to meet the dramatically growing demand for advanced battery technology,” said Rick, Group14 Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder. “Germany has long been a world leader in Home to many of the world’s largest and oldest automakers, we look forward to bringing this key stake to life to build a resilient silicon cell supply chain that can meet current global demand.”

Its manufacturing facility in Eastern Washington’s Moses Lake will come online next year. The plant is expected to produce 4,000 tons of silicon-carbon battery material per year, enough to produce at least 200,000 electric vehicles. A factory that Group14 is building in South Korea in partnership with electronics company SK materials is expected to start operating soon, with an annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes.

Rick Luebbe, founder and chief executive of Group14, said: “If the automotive industry can be fully electrified, it will mean the creation of a nearly trillion-dollar battery industry 25 times its current size.

China

In 2022, Tianhong Ruike disclosed that it plans to introduce 5 billion yuan in strategic investment to build an 80,000-ton electronic-grade granular polysilicon industrial upgrading project to expand production. It is reported that the total investment of the project is 9.68 billion yuan. After completion, it will form a total production capacity of 100,000 tons of granular polysilicon. At the same time, it will support the construction of 200,000 tons of industrial silicon projects, expand silane filling and sales, increase ultra-pure polysilicon production capacity, and extend silicon-carbon anode materials. and other diversified applications.

On June 8, 2023, the listed company Silane Technology announced that the total amount of funds raised by the fixed increase shall not exceed 1 billion yuan (including 1 billion yuan). Through this issuance of stocks to specific targets to raise funds to invest in improving the production capacity of the issuer’s electronic-grade silane gas, the design capacity of the issuer’s electronic-grade silane gas will gradually increase from the current 2,600 tons/year to 9,600 tons/year in 2025, meeting the Growing Market Demand for Electronic Grade Silane Gas.

On June 18, 2023, Xingyang Technology announced that Inner Mongolia Jiayang Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary, plans to invest in the construction of an electronic-grade silane supporting project with an annual output of 16,000 tons. The project is expected to have a total investment of about 1.8 billion yuan. 8,000 tons of electronic grade silane, and the second phase of construction will produce 8,000 tons of electronic grade silane per year.