1. Higher aspect ratio, higher purity, higher dispersion, higher production efficiency
Higher aspect ratio, higher purity, better dispersion, and higher production efficiency are the development direction of the new conductive agent-carbon nanotubes.
The pipe diameter is gradually reduced, the specific surface area continues to rise, and the amount of addition used by the client continues to decrease; the purity is continuously improved to meet the needs of the power battery for long cycle life and storage life; the continuous improvement of dispersion is good for subsequent battery manufacturers. The basis of decentralization.
2. Industrialization of single-walled carbon nanotubes
The carbon nanotubes currently on the market are basically multi-walled carbon nanotubes, and single-walled carbon nanotubes have better performance because of their small diameter and larger aspect ratio, which significantly improves battery cycleability and capacity. The use of single-walled carbon nanotubes is less, which can further reduce the content of conductive agents in lithium batteries.
However, the current production cost of single-walled carbon nanotubes is very high, the price is high, and the cost performance is low, and cannot be accepted by the market. Currently, they are only used in a few high-end products. Russia OCSiAl is the world's only technology company with large-scale industrial synthesis of single-walled carbon nanotube technology, and its current annual production capacity is 75 tons. The industrialization of single-walled carbon nanotubes is the direction of future research and development of carbon nanotube manufacturers.
3. As a conductive agent, it is unlikely to be replaced
At present, the application of carbon nanotubes is in a rapid replacement stage, and its own technology is accelerating iterative, and the possibility of being replaced by other products is very small. As a conductive agent, carbon nanotubes will still maintain their application advantages for 10-15 years.
4. Develop more applications of carbon nanotubes in other fields, such as conductive plastics, etc.
Conductive plastic is a functional polymer material that uses plastic as a base material and various conductive additives, and is processed by the traditional plastic molding method. Conductive plastic has realized a huge change from insulators to semiconductors to conductors. Level downstream application market. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are a new generation of carbon-based conductive materials. The outstanding advantage is that the filling amount is less than that of carbon black, and the mechanical properties of plastics are less damaged.
At present, the use of carbon nanotube conductive plastics in China is still rare, and carbon black-based conductive plastics are the main ones. Carbon nanotube companies need to solve problems such as dispersion and application cost, and realize replacement by relying on the performance advantages of carbon nanotubes.