The difficulty of electrolyte VC additives   Introduction:Vinylene carbonate (VC) is a common SEI film forming additive. VC polymerizes on the surface of the negative electrode in a lithium ion battery to form a dense SEI film, thereby preventing further reduction and decomposition of the battery electrolyte on the surface of the anode electrode.   Since the beginning of this year, the supply of electrolyte additive VC has continued to be tight, and the VC additive gap has continued to grow. Some electrolyte additive manufacturers have placed VC orders in the first half of 2022.   At present, the quotation of VC bulk orders has soared to 270,000/ton, an increase of 68%-80% from the average market price of 150,000 to 160,000 last year. And VC manufacturers have the same words, "The core issue now is not price, but production capacity."   VC additives are mainly used to improve the capacity and cycle life of batteries. As the proportion of VC added to lithium iron phosphate batteries is much higher than that of NCM batteries, as the production and sales of lithium iron phosphate continue to pick up, the supply of VC continues to increase.   The preparation method of VC additive is relatively open, but the purity of the product is required to be high, because traces of impurities may affect the performance of the lithium battery.   At the same time, the production of VC additives has a certain degree of danger, and has high requirements for safe production and environmental protection. The relevant management departments have strict requirements for the construction, commissioning, and operation of projects involving hazardous chemicals.   It is worth mentioning that previously, due to less market demand for VCs, fierce price war competition, and strict control of production under environmental supervision, a number of VC manufacturers cut production and stopped production last year. It is more difficult to resume production in the later stage, which greatly reduces the overall supply of VC.   In order to ensure the supply of production capacity, Hankang Chemical (Xinzhoubang Holding Subsidiary), Zhejiang Tianshuo (Tianci Materials Holding Subsidiary), Suzhou Huayi (October Co., Ltd.), Huasheng Lithium Battery, Yongtai Technology, etc. are all in Accelerate the expansion of the deployment of additives. However, limited by VC's technology, patent barriers, and process requirements, it is difficult to expand production. It is expected that the VC gap may continue until the second half of next year.

Hot Roller Press Machine AOT-HRP-100 shipped to USA Thank you for the trust from Dr.Kevin from Cornell University, as we know, Cornell University located in New York, USA, is the world's top private research university. The school is one of the 14 founding colleges of the American Association of Universities and one of the eight members of the famous Ivy League school. As a trial order, he chose to buy a electric roller press machine with heating function for battery elecrode sheet calendering. This 100mm width roller press is ideal equipment for lab coin cell research, with heating function, it is good for battery electrode sheet thinning and calendering. The pictures below for your reference:

CATL's long-term order locks in lithium hexafluorophosphate On May 28, Tinci Materials announced that Ningde Kaixin, a wholly-owned subsidiary, and Ningde Times signed the "Material Supply Framework Agreement", stipulating that Ningde Kai will be within the validity period of the agreement (from the effective date of the agreement to June 30, 2022). Xin supplied CATL with an amount of electrolyte corresponding to the expected usage of 15,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate (up or down not more than 20% can be negotiated by both parties). According to industry estimates, based on a single ton of electrolyte demand of 0.135 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate, 15,000 tons of lithium hexafluorophosphate corresponds to about 110,000 tons of electrolyte, which can support 100±20% GWh lithium battery demand. This means that CATL's power battery capacity demand can reach 100GWh by the end of June 2022. CATL locks in the electrolyte supply of Tinci materials and the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate through long-term orders and advance payments, which fully reflects the increase in the bargaining power of lithium hexafluorophosphate, and further reflects the current situation that downstream demand is strong and the supply of lithium hexafluorophosphate products exceeds supply. Industry data shows that on May 19, the market price of lithium hexafluorophosphate rose again, quoting 270,000-310,000 yuan/ton. Since the beginning of this year, the domestic price of lithium hexafluorophosphate has risen from 110,000 yuan/ton to the latest 270,000 yuan/ton, an increase of over 145%, a 4-year high. At the same time, companies including Duo Fluoride, Tianji, Jiujiu Jiu and other companies have substantially increased their lithium hexafluorophosphate quotations. For example, Tianji announced in late April that the price of lithium hexafluorophosphate products will be increased by 15%-20% based on the existing quotations. It is expected that demand will continue to pick up in 2021, and the gap between supply and demand will widen. The wave of price increases will continue until 2022, especially when new energy vehicles enter the peak production and sales season in the second half of 2021. Prices are expected to continue to rise and continue to consolidate at a high level.

Electrolyte fluorinated lithium salt LIFSI --"new force"   As the "blood" of lithium batteries, electrolyte is essential for performance such as energy density, high and low temperature, cycle life, and safety. In the electrolyte, the solute lithium salt determines its basic physical and chemical properties, so it has also become a key variable that affects the performance of the battery.   Under the general trend of high-voltage and high-nickel power lithium batteries, the introduction of new lithium salts and additives to optimize the electrolyte formulation, and thereby empower the overall performance of the battery, is becoming the consensus of domestic and foreign battery companies.   Aiming at new opportunities in the upstream lithium salt field brought about by the evolution of power lithium battery technology, a number of emerging lithium salt and additive companies in China have begun to grow rapidly and have become "new forces" with great potential and stamina for the development of the industry.    Tianzhu Hong Fluoride Lithium Industry is one of them. Figure1: Tianzhu Hong Fluoride Lithium Industry “In the next few years, the market application window for new lithium salts represented by LiFSI is rapidly opening, and companies with technical reserves and rapid industrialization capabilities will enter the fast lane of rapid development.” This is the judgment of Cao Bin, chairman of Hong Fluoride Lithium.   Up to now, Macrofluorolithium has successfully realized the industrial production of lithium hexafluorophosphate, lithium difluorophosphate, lithium difluorooxalate borate, lithium tetrafluoroborate, and lithium bisoxalate borate. At the same time, it has made a forward-looking layout in the industrialization of the new lithium salt LiFSI.   In the short term, due to technical difficulty and high cost, LiFSI has not been directly used as a solute lithium salt, but as a solute additive mixed with LiPF6 for use in the electrolyte of a ternary power battery to improve performance.   Compare with LiFSI and LiPF6   Compare Item LiFSI LiPF6 Basic Substance  Molecular weight 187 152 Electric conductivity High slightly lower  Heat stability High Low Hydrolyzability Hydrolysis resistance, no hydrofluoric acid production Easily hydrolyzed to produce hydrofluoric acid Battery Performance Cycle life Long Short High temperature performance Good Bad Gas expansion Suppress battery swelling The battery swells Safety High Big safety hazard But in the medium and long term, with the realization of large-scale production and substantial cost reduction, LiFSI will gradually replace LiPF6. Start a new era of lithium salt. Judging from the market trends in recent years, more and more companies are turning their attention to LiFSI.

Large size cylindrical battery "turmoil" The breakthrough of full-tab technology and the parallel ternary/iron-lithium technology have made the advantages of the large cylinder in terms of performance, cost and safety more obvious. The broadening of the application scenario boundary and the follow-up of head battery companies also allow large cylindrical batteries to regain a place in the power battlefield. After the Tesla battery day, the 4680 non-electrode (also known as all-electrode) large cylindrical technical route was proposed. Immediately afterwards, a number of OEMs and battery companies accelerated their actions in the field of large cylindrical batteries. As one of Tesla's three major power battery suppliers, CATL is also actively deploying large cylindrical batteries, mainly targeting the two-wheeled vehicle market. At the same time, it does not rule out the introduction of large cylindrical batteries into the passenger car field. In terms of high-end passenger cars, in addition to having Tesla's market endorsement, Porsche also made it clear that cylindrical batteries are an important future direction for power batteries, and it is studying high-power, high-density batteries. The clear market trend is down, and battery companies are quickly following up. In addition to Panasonic and LG have begun to deploy 4680 battery production lines for Tesla, domestic battery companies have also unveiled the progress of 4680 batteries. BAK Chief Scientist Lin Jian said that BAK is cooperating with customers on the application and development of all-tab large cylindrical batteries. 4680 battery cell samples are expected to be mass-produced within this year, and mass production is expected to start in 2023, and will be the first to be applied in the car electronics market. Ji Yajuan, director of Yiwei Lithium Energy Basic Materials and Technology Research Office, also said that the company has deployed two major models of 46800 and 46950 in large cylindrical batteries, and will gradually promote large cylindrical batteries in the market after 2023. After the completion of large-scale mass production and initial market introduction, the market competition of the large cylinder may have just begun.

Celgard 2320 Trilayers Battery Separator Shipped to Russia Really pleased to do business with Russian clients from research institude in Moscow. We make this deal in hours without too much words, just because of the trust. As trial order, they only order 4 rolls Celgard 2320 separator, if the test is good, they will order more and consider other battery raw materials next time. The Celgard 2320 is 20ummicroporoustrilayers membrane PP/PE/PP separator for secondary lithium batteries, it is same as the Celgard 2400,  Celgard 2500,  Celgard 2325, all of them are very popular in lab. Let's check some features of this separator: 1. Excellent resistance to acids, bases&most chemicals 2. Uniform pore structure with high chemical and thermal stability 3. Oxidation resistance for excellent cycling&trickle charge performance 4. PE inner layer provides high-speed shutdown 5. Zero TD shrinkage reduces internal shorting and inproves high temperature dimensional stability You will get very good packing as below:

BAK overall arrangement full tab 4680 cylindrical battery At the 2021CIBF battery exhibition that opened on March 19. Dr. Lin Jian, chief scientist of BAK Battery, revealed that BAK is cooperating with a number of domestic and overseas customers on the application and development of all-terminal large cylindrical batteries. 4680 battery cell samples are expected to be mass-produced within this year. Compared with the previous 18650 and 21700 batteries, the large cylindrical battery represented by 4680 adopts the full tab technology, which can not only increase the size of the single battery cell and increase the space utilization rate under the premise of ensuring the safety of the entire battery pack, it can also increase the mileage of the vehicle. At the same time, the full tab technology can also solve the power performance bottleneck of the cylindrical cell. This is also the main reason why Tesla has set its sights on the 4680 battery. It is reported that while BAK is strategically exploring large-size cylinders, it has also deployed full battery tab technology and formed a unique full tab technology route in 2019. In the future, full tab large cylindrical batteries for high-end models will become the core product of BAK's automotive electronics applications. As far as the industry is concerned, BAK believes that mass production of large cylindrical batteries is expected to begin in 2023, and large cylindrical batteries will be used in the car electronics market at the earliest. In terms of industrialization progress, BAK revealed that it has begun planning a mass production base for large-size cylindrical batteries, and it is expected to achieve mass production of large cylindrical batteries in the next two years. Reprinted by AOTELEC 2021-3-21

Happy Chinese Lunar Year of 2021 Thank you for all the valued customers, in the year of 2020, we faced terrible pandemic of COVID-19, but we still worked well and we believe that our cooperation will keep going and be better.  Here we want to inform you that the Chinese New Year holidays is coming, we will be off from 6th-20th february 2021, during this period, we may not avaible for replying you on time, but you can still contact the sales person by email. We will try best to reply you in time. Here are some FAQ about Chinese New Year: 1. Is Chinese New Year a Public Holiday? Chinese New Year is a public holiday. It is a day off for the general population, and schools and most businesses are closed. 2. What Do People Do? Many people clean their homes to welcome the Spring Festival. They put up the red posters with poetic verses on it to their doors, Chinese New Year pictures on their walls, and decorate their homes with red lanterns. It is also a time to reunite with relatives so many people visit their families at this time of the year. In the evening of the Spring Festival Eve, many people set off fireworks and firecrackers, hoping to cast away any bad luck and bring forth good luck. Children often receive “luck” money. Many people wear new clothes and send Chinese New Year greetings to each other. Various activities such as beating drums and striking gongs, as well as dragon and lion dances, are all part of the Spring Festival festivities. 3. Background According to historical documents, on the day when Shun, who was one of ancient China’s mythological emperors, came to the throne more than 4000 years ago, he led his ministers to worship heaven and earth. From then on, that day was regarded as the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar. This is the basic origin of Chinese New Year. China adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1911, so Chinese New Year was renamed the Spring Festival.