Global and China Silicon-based Anode Material Industry Report, 2017-2020

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At present, commercial lithium-ion battery anode materials are mostly based on graphite. High-end graphite-based anode materials which have been successfully developed and put into use, have capacity of 365mAh/g, close to the theoretical capacity of graphite (372mAh/g), with compaction density ranging at 1.7~1.75g/cm3. There is seldom an improvement in energy density of anode materials in terms of capacity per gram and compaction density of graphite.

Moreover, in lithium-ion battery market, especially power battery market, requirements on energy density of batteries are increasingly high. According to Chinese government's plan for power battery (as of 2020), specific energy of new lithium-ion power battery cell shall exceed 300Wh/kg and that of the system shall be up to 260Wh/kg. In current stage, mainstream graphite-based anode materials are hardly satisfying the needs of improving specific capacity of batteries. New high-capacity anode materials such as Si-C composite are the future development trend.

Presently, a solution of Si-based materials doped with graphite is common for pure Si-based materials which have great expansion and high costs in spite of energy density of up to 4200mAh/g, and more doping renders higher concentration of silicon in the materials. Silicon carbon anode material (SiC) and silicon oxide anode material (SiO) are the mainstream technical solutions at present.

Currently, around 10% of Si-based material can be added into SiC anode material. In line with the China's plan for specific energy of power battery cell of 300Wh/Kg, that of anode materials shall attain 600-800ah/g. Hence, Si-based material will see a rising share to 25%-35% and above in the anode material in the coming several years.

The output of anode materials reached 122,500 tons in China in 2016, an upsurge of 68.3% from a year ago. As it is still at the infancy of industrialization and features low penetration rate, the SiC anode material demand stands at 300 tons or more. If the average addition of Si-based materials is up to 30% or so in 2020, the demand for Si-based anode materials will soar to roughly 40,000 tons and the overall market size will reach about RMB8 billion.

By far, Japanese companies are at the forefront of the SiC anode composites, and some companies have supplied of small-batch products. Among Chinese enterprises, Shenzhen BTR New Energy Materials Co., Ltd has been in the leading position in the R&D and production of SiC anode domestically by dint of its technical superiority in anode materials. The company's SiC anode materials, which passed Samsung's certification in 2013, has current capacity of 300 t/a.

Shanshan Corporation started R&D of SiC anode materials in 2009 and has already realized ton-level sales per month. Obtaining many patents in regions like Japan, South Korea and China, Shanshan will build a 4,000 t/a SiC anode material production line at the end of 2017, according to its planning.

Global and China Silicon-based Anode Material Industry Report, 2017-2020 by ResearchInChina highlights the following:

• Development background and technology roadmap of silicon-based anode materials;
• Global lithium battery anode material market (scale, competitive landscape, etc.);
• Chinese lithium battery anode material industry (policies, market size, competitive pattern, price trend, etc.);
• Progress in industrialization of silicon-based anode materials, domestic and foreign companies' layout, the market demand for silicon-based anode materials in China;
• World's six silicon-based anode companies (operation, anode material business, R&D and industrialization progress of silicon-based anode materials);

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