Liu Zhongqing, General Manager of Na Yuan New Materials Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd

Tech expert returns to China for entrepreneurship: betting on Wuxi's industrial chain

In a conference room in Xinwu District, Wuxi, Liu Zhongqing, the founder of Na Yuan New Materials, pointed to the molecular structure diagram on the PPT and spoke as if describing his own child:.

Liu Zhongqing's career in battery materials began at the Augsburg Institute of Physics in Germany, where he completed his master's/doctoral studies. Later, he completed his postdoctoral research at the Lich Research Center under the guidance of Martin Winter, a member of the German Academy of Engineering. After completing his studies, he worked as an electronic material development expert at Schott Group in Germany. When I was a researcher at Oxford, I was working on Prussian Blue Materials (PPA), but the toxicity was too high to mass produce, and this path was not feasible

In 2022, when he returned to China to establish Na Yuan New Materials, he faced a critical site selection decision. Suzhou universities gather for research and development, but the new energy industry chain is weak; Wuxi is home to giants such as LG, GEM, and Pioneer Intelligence, with abundant engineering resources. To do mass production of materials, we must be close to the heart of the industry. "He ultimately settled the company in Xinwu District, Wuxi, and the engineering technology center was simultaneously rooted here.

The most difficult sodium circuit wire to knock on relentlessly

At the beginning of entrepreneurship, sodium circuit lines had three branches: layered oxide (O3/P2), Prussian blue (PBA), and polyanion (sodium iron phosphate NFPP, sodium iron sulfate NFS). When lithium prices plummet to 60000 yuan/ton in 2023, layered oxides are abandoned by the market due to high costs, leaving Prussian Blue trapped in the risk of highly toxic cyanide.

We chose the most difficult sodium iron sulfate, "Liu Zhongqing explained its value logic: the raw material comes from chemical waste, the cost per ton is only a thousand yuan, and the finished product price can be reduced to just over 10000 yuan. But technical difficulties such as high mountains - low compaction density, poor high-temperature cycling, and battery gas generation bulging. When a global energy storage leader was troubled by these issues for three years, the Na Yuan team developed an exclusive iron sodium sulfate NFS additive. It's like adding a steel frame to a collapsed house, "he gestured. This bottle of powder has become the key to breaking the deadlock - only sodium can be produced in the entire industry, allowing the material to undergo over 2000 high-temperature cycles, and the tricycle battery is guaranteed for three years.

Wear explosion-proof armor on the battery

In 2024, Na Yuan products will become popular in the northern market. When the range of lithium electric cars is halved at -20 ℃, the sodium battery maintains a range retention rate of over 94%. Northeastern villagers are facing a dilemma: in the cold winter of -20 ℃, using lead-acid vehicles to freeze halfway may result in death, while using lithium batteries is afraid of a one in ten thousand chance of explosion

Liu Zhongqing calculated that the cost of sodium electricity is 30% lower than that of ternary lithium and 10% cheaper than lead-acid, but it can simultaneously solve the pain points of low temperature and safety. Technological barriers quickly translate into orders. A global energy storage leader was the first to sign a 5000 ton framework agreement order, followed closely by a leading light power company. The annual sales of two or three wheeled vehicles exceed one billion units, and fully replacing sodium batteries requires over one million tons of materials. Currently, the certification of a leading new energy vehicle company is also coming to an end.

Capacity Blitz: Picking up Excess Iron and Lithium Production Lines

The overcapacity of lithium batteries in 2025 has become an opportunity for the expansion of sodium production. A 5000 ton idle iron lithium production line in Changsha has been revitalized after being renovated by Na Yuan for hundreds of thousands of yuan. "Spray drying tower sprays several tons of materials an hour, which is ten times more efficient than traditional production methods." Liu Zhongqing revealed that this production line was put into production in August, and the monthly capacity is climbing to 200 tons. The financing pace is equally pragmatic. In 2023, the company raised 25 million yuan in financing, and the current financing valuation is far lower than that of competitors. The new round of financing will be used to expand production capacity and research and development, supplement working capital, and contract idle production lines.

Future: Two or three wheelers are just the starting point

Sodium batteries are not a replacement for lithium batteries, but rather kill lead-acid batteries and serve as a supplement to lithium batteries, "Liu Zhongqing showed data: the number of two wheelers in China is 500-600 million, and the number of three wheelers is 100 million; The annual sales of two wheelers are 60 million units, and the annual sales of three wheelers are 25 million units, corresponding to the new market for million ton materials and the blue ocean replacement market for 10 million ton materials; The overall market size of sodium positive electrode materials exceeds 200 billion yuan, and the market size of sodium battery cells exceeds one trillion yuan. The greater ambition lies in the recycling process.

"Sodium ferric sulfate is soluble in water, and can be regenerated by adding spoons of ferric sulfate or sodium sulfate during recovery." He described the future scenario: after the pole piece is disassembled, it is dissolved into the water tank, the uniform solution is used to supplement the elements, and the spray is dried and directly changed back to the cathode material - this will reduce the cost by another 30%, forming the ultimate closed loop. As the interview was coming to an end, Liu Zhongqing glanced at his watch and said he was rushing to Changsha to supervise the production line. At most three companies can thrive in this industry, and the window period is only five years

On the whiteboard in the conference room, there is still the competitive curve he drew: technical barriers → commercial barriers → ecological niche advantages. At this moment, Na Yuan's monthly shipment of ferrous sulfate is only a hundred tons, but he believes that when the Na Yuan NFS material loaded Na Yuan electric two - and three wheeled electric vehicles hit the road in batches, the machines at the Wuxi factory roar, and this curve will eventually rise sharply.

Yinxiu Capital believes that:The NFS positive electrode material for sodium ion batteries has significant cost advantages and good performance potential, and has broad market prospects in energy storage, low-speed electric vehicles, and other fields. At the same time, challenges in energy density and cycle life need to be overcome through technological innovation and coordinated development of the industry chain, and NFS cathode materials are expected to achieve large-scale applications in the future. Na Yuan New Materials has a profound technical accumulation in the NFS material field and has achieved mass production in industrialization, gradually becoming an important supplier for top new energy customers.

Founder of Yinxiu Capital and Editor in Chief of Wuxi Venture Capital Circle, He Yu (second from right) and Liu Zhongqing (third from right)

Article source: Wuxi Venture Capital Circle, author: Xiaochuang Circle