36Kr has learned that SIMT, a manufacturer of sodium positive electrode materials, has recently completed tens of millions of yuan in angel round financing. The investors in this round are Jinjue Capital and Xintou Angel Fund. The financing funds will mainly be used for the construction of the pilot line, which is expected to be completed and put into operation by the end of this year. At the same time, Na Yuan New Materials has started planning and layout for a thousand ton production line, with plans to start production in 2024.
SIMT Sodium Yuan New Materials was established in March 2022, focusing on the research and development, production, and sales of positive electrode materials for sodium ion batteries. The company has the ability to research and manufacture sodium ion positive electrode materials, design production line equipment, and design full battery cells.
There are three main routes for selecting positive electrode materials for sodium ion batteries: layered oxides, polyanions, and Prussian blue based materials. Na Yuan New Materials mainly focuses on the development of layered oxide and polyanion materials. The company currently has multiple research and development technology platforms such as SIMT Suzhou R&D Center, SIMT Wuxi Engineering Technology Center, and the Southern University of Science and Technology Na Yuan New Materials Energy Storage and Conversion Joint Laboratory, with dozens of doctors, masters, and technical experts. In addition, the company's thousand ton/ten thousand ton production base is currently in preparation, with an annual sales volume of over one billion yuan after commissioning.
Since 2021, the supply of raw materials for lithium-ion batteries has been tight, and prices have fluctuated sharply. Sodium ion batteries have taken the stage accordingly. In theory, sodium batteries can reduce material costs by 30% -40% compared to lithium batteries, and their cost advantage makes them more economical in downstream application scenarios. Therefore, in the past two years, the industrialization of sodium ion batteries has made rapid progress.
Dr. Liu Zhongqing, CEO of Nayuan New Materials, told 36Kr that the sodium battery explosion period may come around 2025, and sodium batteries also have strong competitiveness against lithium batteries. From the perspective of the material itself, sodium electricity can be doped with more diverse elements, which can take the high-capacity route or the high stability route, opening up a richer market for the terminal applications of sodium electricity.
However, the development of sodium batteries also requires overcoming many difficulties. Dr. Liu Zhongqing said that during the research and development process, we found that sodium positive electrode materials generally have low capacity, low average voltage, water marks, high alkali marks, gas production problems, poor cycling, multi-stage charge discharge curves, and quality control difficulties.
In order to solve the above problems, Na Yuan New Materials has established an engineering technology center in Xinwu District, Wuxi (covering a hundred ton pilot line). It is reported that the center can achieve a stable transition from cutting-edge research and development to mass production development of materials. At the same time, the center is equipped with the latest standard fully automated production equipment, which realizes integrated continuous production from feeding to discharging, and can better provide customers with products with stable processes and sufficient output.
Currently, Na Yuan New Materials has three main products, namely energy storage type, power type, and capacity type positive electrode materials.
The single energy target of the energy storage positive electrode material is 120-140Wh/kg, and the full electric cycle target is 4000 cycles. The single energy target of the power type positive electrode material is 160-180Wh/kg, and the full electric cycle target is 2000 cycles. The single energy target of the capacity type positive electrode material is 200Wh/kg, and the full electric cycle target is 1000-1500 cycles.
On the client side, Na Yuan New Materials has completed hundreds of kilograms of sample delivery and collaborative development, and has developed more than 30 downstream customers for Na Electric. Customers expect product demand to reach batches of over 100 kilograms, with some reaching batch tonnage.
The completion of this financing delivery will help Na Yuan New Materials further increase its research and development efforts, expand production capacity, and work with downstream customers to promote the large-scale production of sodium ion batteries.
Article | Han Yongchang
Editor | Li Qin
This article is reproduced from 36Kr by Han Yongchang
