What is Japan's obsession with all-solid lithium-ion batteries

Some companies and academic institutions in Japan will jointly develop the next generation of all-solid lithium batteries for electric vehicles in the next five years in an effort to apply them to the new energy car industry. The project is expected to have a total investment of 10 billion yen. Toyota, Panasonic and other 23 automotive, battery and material companies, as well as 15 academic institutions such as Kyoto University and Japan's Institute of Physical Chemistry, will participate in the research and plan to master the entire solid state battery by 2022. Related technology.

Previously, the consortium of the Japan lithium-ion battery technology and assessment center received $14 million in funding from the ministry of economy, industry and commerce, with the ultimate goal of jointly developing a battery capable of supporting 800 km of range by 2030.

So far this year, domestic companies and research institutes have focused on all-solid lithium batteries. It makes one wonder why so much emphasis is placed on all-solid battery technology.

Outstanding advantages of all-solid battery technology

Previously, Renault head of auto business Norman de said publicly that all-solid batteries are the new hope of the automotive industry, in terms of cost, density and thermal stability than the current lithium-ion batteries have a huge advantage, the future will be mainly applied to long life electric vehicles.

Safety is one of the fundamental drivers of the development of all-solid batteries in the battery field. The diaphragm and electrolyte of traditional lithium-ion batteries. According to the electrode material characteristics of the battery, lithium dendrites may appear when working under large currents, thus piercing the diaphragm leading to short circuit and battery damage; The electrolyte is an organic liquid, and the tendency to undergo side reactions, oxidation decomposition, gas generation, and combustion at high temperatures will increase.

In addition, the advantages of all-solid batteries compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries are also more obvious:

First, all-solid batteries are thinner and smaller at the same energy level. In traditional lithium-ion batteries, the diaphragm and electrolyte together occupy nearly 40 % of the volume and 20 % of the mass of the battery. If solid electrolytes are used instead, the electrode spacing can be shortened to micron level, greatly reducing the thickness of the battery, so all-solid battery technology is the only way for batteries to be miniaturized and thin.

Not only that, but the total thickness of all-solid batteries prepared by vapor deposition may be only a few tens of micrometers, so it can be made into very small power devices that can be integrated into the MEMS(micro-electromechanical system) field, thus facilitating battery applications. New small size intelligent electronic equipment, The realization of terminal product miniaturization.

Second, all-solid batteries are light and have a high energy density. After the use of all-solid electrolytes, the applicable material system of lithium-ion batteries will also change. Metal lithium can be used as a negative electrode instead of a graphite negative electrode. This can significantly reduce the amount of negative electrode material, making the energy density of the entire battery significantly Increased.

It is worth mentioning that the use of all-solid batteries can solve the compatibility problems of many new high-performance electrode materials with existing electrolytic liquid systems.

Taking into account the above two factors, all-solid batteries can have a greater increase in energy density than normal lithium-ion batteries. So far, many laboratories have been able to mass-produce all-solid batteries with energy density of 300-400Wh / kg on a small scale.

From the data of energy density, all-solid batteries bring people more intuitive understanding that our mobile phone and other electronic products have been upgraded from "one day per day" to "two days per day".

Solid State Battery: A New Battlefield for New energy battery

Solid state batteries have higher energy density than conventional lithium-ion batteries, and have more power and longer life, which is the trend for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, according to researchers at many domestic securities institutions.

At present, China is also actively deploying solid-state batteries. The Action Plan for Promoting the Development of the Automobile Power Battery Industry issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four ministries and commissions clearly states that it will increase investment in research and development of new types of batteries such as solid-state batteries. As the giants have entered the game, it will promote technological breakthroughs and accelerate, and industrial applications are expected to be advanced.

Many industry experts have high hopes that solid-state batteries will become the next generation of battery technology. The key to new energy batteries, according to industry interviewees, is their ability to run beyond 500 km or more, which could lead to a significant increase in market penetration. And this will also be the focus of Chinese companies and foreign competition.

The author believes that solid state batteries will become a new battleground for new energy competition at home and abroad. Volkswagen announced last year that it would make a big push into solid-state battery research. By 2030, all of its cars will have electric versions, and will invest 50 billion EUR in electric car batteries and 20 billion EUR in electric vehicles. Volkswagen said it is already planning the next generation of electric car batteries, solid batteries with a mileage of more than 1,000 kilometers, and will be mass-produced in 2025. At present, the world's pioneers in this technology are Germany, Japan, the United States, and France. The Chinese are catching up. In the era of Ningde, a leading power battery company in China, related research and development work was carried out in the direction of polymer and sulfide-based solid-state batteries, and preliminary progress was made, and preliminary technological routes were proposed in large-scale production.

Solid state batteries as a future development of lithium batteries, a number of companies around the world have begun to layout. Among domestic listed companies, Guoxuan Hi-Tech stated on the investor interaction platform that it has been developing solid-state batteries and solid-state electrolytes. Hengdian East Magnetic said in an agency survey that it will organize the development of solid-state batteries, its three-way power battery trial production last August. The company's lithium-solid battery is currently in the testing phase but has passed a number of third-party safety tests, according to the company.

Comments: all-solid lithium batteries will be the future development direction of electric car batteries. Previously, the "Action Plan for Promoting the Development of the Automobile Power Battery Industry" issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four ministries and commissions clearly stated that it will increase investment in the development of new power lithium power systems, including new types of batteries such as solid batteries. The energy density of all-solid batteries is at least three times that of current traditional lithium-ion batteries. At the same time, the charging time is shortened, and the mileage is longer, and the number of recharges and discharges is higher, making the battery more durable. It is a type of battery technology with a brighter future.

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