Can ternary materials replace lithium cobalt oxide materials

After years of development, lithium cobalt oxide materials has occupied half of the lithium battery market. But at present, the ternary materials are developing very fast and has already occupied a certain market.  When can ternary materials replace lithium cobalt oxide materials?

Ternary material PK lithium cobalt oxide material

The ternary material is Li(NiCoMn)O2, the composite cathode material, which uses nickel, cobalt, and manganese salts as raw materials.

ternary material

Lithium cobalt oxide material is generally used as a positive electrode material for lithium ion batteries. The battery has a stable structure, high capacity ratio, and outstanding comprehensive performance, but its safety is poor and the cost is very high.

Ternary materials far superior to lithium cobalt oxide material in terms of cost performance and safety performance, but why ternary materials still have a long way to go to replace lithium cobalt oxide materials?

Ternary materials first affect the core application areas of lithium cobalt oxide material—digital product market. According to data, in the cathode material market in 2019, the Chinese market’s demand for ternary materials has reached 192,000 tons, 80% of which are used in digital products such as laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. However, it should be noted that compared with ternary materials, lithium cobalt oxide material’s performance and technical advantages is more favored by the market. Therefore, most people still hold a positive attitude towards the lithium cobalt oxide market. They believe that whether ternary materials can successfully replace lithium cobalt oxide material depends on the market selection.

lithium cobalt oxide material

In ternary materials, the content of cobalt is usually controlled at about 20%. Although the ternary material meets the requirements of “less cobaltization” and the cost has been significantly reduced, it still has a certain gap with lithium cobalt oxide materials in terms of compaction density, high voltage, high capacity, and high temperature resistance.

Digital devices are becoming thinner and lighter, and the requirements for battery’s capacity are also increasing. The compaction density of the cathode material is one of the factors that affect the capacity of the lithium ion battery. The compaction density of single crystal particles of lithium cobalt oxide can be 4.2g/cm3, which is a difficult challenge for ternary materials.

In fact, the only batteries that can meet the standby requirements of mobile devices are lithium cobalt oxide batteries. In the field of consumer digital products, lithium cobalt oxide batteries are still in a dominant position.

Although the market needs of ternary materials has increased, but it still cannot completely replace lithium cobalt oxide materials.

There are many ternary materials companies but not strong ones. Major companies have severely same products, mainly 523 and 111 models. At the same time, driven by Tesla, the ternary power battery began to expand. The materials companies have added a number of ternary materials companies since 2015. In the future, with the continuous advancement of technology, the demand for long cycle life batteries will increase, and the market demand for ternary materials will show a booming period of production and sales. Under the favorable background, a large number of new competitor will emerge in the market.

Ternary materials have huge potential in the future market. With the development of technology, ternary materials are likely to replace lithium cobalt oxide in the future.

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