What are the common cathode materials in the lithium battery industry chain?

Lithium battery industry chain: cathode material, anode material, separator, electrolyte, battery core manufacturing, and battery packaging. The cathode material accounts for 30-40% of the cost in the entire lithium battery industry chain.

The performance of the positive electrode material is an important factor limiting the capacity of the lithium battery. Common cathode materials are lithium cobaltate, lithium manganate, lithium iron phosphate, ternary materials, and the like.

1. Lithium cobaltate: the first successfully commercialized lithium-ion battery cathode material. Due to the disadvantages of relatively low cobalt resources, high prices, and toxicity to the environment, coupled with the poor safety performance and relatively low capacity of the material, it has greatly limited its wide application and long-term development. At present, lithium cobalt oxide battery is mainly used in digital batteries.

2. Lithium manganate: mainly spinel type lithium manganate. Compared with lithium cobaltate, it is characterized by abundant resources, low price, low environmental pollution, and excellent safety performance. However, the structure of the spinel is difficult to maintain integrity, and the cycle is poor. The dissolution of manganese in the electrolyte and the Jahn-Teller effect in the high-temperature cycle also cause a serious attenuation of the capacity of the material.

3．Lithium iron phosphate: rich in raw materials, the price is relatively low compared to other materials, environmentally friendly, coupled with better cycle performance and high security, making it the first to be applied in electric vehicles. However, the lithium iron phosphate materials have poor conductivity and low tap density, resulting in a low volumetric energy density, which limits its further application.

4. Ternary material: Inspired by the doping modification of metal elements of lithium cobaltate, the multi-metal composite oxide---the ternary material LiNi1-x-yCoxNyO2 (N=Mn, Al) has been rapidly developed. The ternary material combines the advantages of lithium cobaltate, lithium nickelate and lithium manganate (lithium aluminate) to form a ternary co-solvent, which can fully exert the functions of three components. The theoretical capacity is relatively high and has a relatively balanced nature, occupying an important position in the power battery market.

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