TIAX develops GEMX composite material to reduce the amount of cobalt in lithium battery cathodes
According to foreign media reports, technology entrepreneur Kenan Sahin and other researchers have jointly developed the future technology of solid-state lithium-ion batteries, working to make their prices more affordable.
Sahin said at a conference in Berlin this week that his company TIAX has developed a new battery composite material, named GEMX, which can reduce the demand for cobalt on battery cathodes. the amount.
The price of cobalt is a key issue that electric vehicle manufacturers pay attention to. The mass production of electric vehicles cannot bypass the core material of this type of vehicle battery. The price of lithium-ion batteries may increase or further Raising the price of electric vehicles will intensify the intensity of competition between electric vehicles and traditional vehicles. After all, the price advantage is no longer obvious after subsidies have declined.
Although the demand for lithium in batteries is higher than that of cobalt, the supply of lithium is in a stable state, and new sources of lithium will be launched soon.
Cobalt is a different story. Cobalt mines are only distributed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nowadays, because of child labor mining incidents, it has been criticized by international public opinion, and the amount of mining has also been imaged. Since 2015, the price of cobalt has tripled.
Sahin said that the new material he invented can reduce the consumption (proportion) of cobalt in lithium battery cathodes from nearly 20% to 4%, resulting in a significant cost of electric vehicles. decline.
The invention of battery materials will help many battery manufacturers and car companies. Panasonic, which supplies Tesla, said that in the future, this material may make lithium batteries no longer use cobalt metal.
In 2016, Sahin provided BASF in Germany with a lithium nickel-oxide-based core cathode material. It is still uncertain whether BASF is a new customer of Sahin .
Sahin said that his company has signed a technology use agreement with a mainstream car company. He hopes that its technology can help more car companies and battery manufacturers.