The May Fourth Medal is a noble honor bestowed upon Chinese youth in the new era. It cheers for dream chasers in the name of youth and guides the way for newcomers with its pioneering power. This medal embodies profound patriotism and represents the spirit of the new generation to strive for excellence.
Recently, the results of the 20th Jiangsu Youth May Fourth Medal selection were announced, and Na Yuan New Material Technology (Wuxi) Co., Ltd. once again received good news - Dr. Liu Zhongqing, the founder and CEO of the company, has made outstanding contributions in the research and development of positive electrode materials for sodium ion batteries,Awarded the Jiangsu Youth May Fourth MedalAnd accepted an interview with Wuxi Daily's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Talent Talk and Xiyou Youth Program.
Dr. Liu Zhongqing
Announcement of the Youth May Fourth Medal Awards
Behind this heavyweight medal is the entrepreneurial story of a science and technology innovation enterprise that went from high spirits to falling to the bottom, and then broke through from adversity.
01. Traverse through cycles, from infinite prospects to upstream against the current
Na Yuan's new talent has never been smooth sailing to where it is today.
The company was established in March 2022. At that time, the price of lithium carbonate had skyrocketed from 40000 yuan/ton in 2020 to 570000-600000 yuan/ton in 2022, seriously squeezing the profits of lithium battery companies and new energy vehicle companies, allowing sodium batteries to successfully enter the public eye and stand in the spotlight of the market. Looking at the timeline of 2022, the establishment of Na Yuan New Materials is timely, with strong domestic policy support, capital pursuit, and expectations for the sodium electricity industry.
Na Yuan New Materials Wuxi Engineering Technology Center
Moreover, since its establishment, Na Yuan New Materials has always had its own halo. The company was founded by a doctoral team with a strong background in German industry and research. Dr. Liu Zhongqing, the founder and CEO, is a former researcher at the Oxford University Institute for Advanced Study and has been deeply involved in the field of battery materials for many years. However, this team, which combines the rigorous spirit of German industry with efficient execution in China, encountered a huge industry crisis shortly after the establishment of the company.
The high price of lithium carbonate ranging from 570000 to 600000 yuan/ton, after a flash in the pan, plummeted all the way below the industry break even line of 70000 yuan/ton. This steep downward curve not only dealt a heavy blow to the lithium battery industry chain, but also became the cutting line for the entire sodium battery industry.
Diagram | Source Network
The market logic at that time was simple: when lithium batteries approached the cost limit, what value did sodium batteries still have?
For a moment, there was widespread grief.
The financing of Na Dian startup company is blocked, and investors are beginning to question the feasibility of this track. Some companies that originally planned to lay out sodium electricity have chosen to wait and see or even withdraw their investments, and the entire industry is shrouded in pessimism. At this darkest moment, Dr. Liu Zhongqing and his team members did not choose to give up, but instead went against the current and chose the more difficult technical direction of NFS sodium iron sulfate in the field of sodium electric materials.
02. Technological breakthroughs, innovative techniques to overcome industry bottlenecks
NFS sodium iron sulfate, as the core representative of the polyanion route, naturally possesses the advantages of the three major technical routes in sodium batteries" Cost+Safety+Lifespan;The triple core advantage.
Unlike layered oxides that pursue high energy density and Prussian blue that emphasizes low cost, NFS's core competitiveness comes from its natural properties:
The raw materials ferrous sulfate and sodium sulfate are both chemical by-products that urgently need to be consumed in the industrial chain; The Burden "; ， The BOM cost can be controlled within 10000 yuan/ton, which is 70% -80% lower than lithium iron phosphate, locking in the competitive advantage at the raw material level.
Diagram | Source Network
In terms of performance, the structure of NFS remains almost unchanged during charging and discharging, and its cycle life can exceed 5000 times. It has strong safety and can withstand both normal temperature and 70 ℃ high temperature needle piercing; No smoke, no fire, no explosion; Fundamentally eliminate the risk of thermal runaway. NFS has excellent low-temperature performance and; Fast charging and fast discharging; Ability, with an energy retention rate of over 90% at minus 30 ℃ and an 80% rechargeable rate in 10-15 minutes, perfectly solving the pain points of battery degradation and high-frequency charging and discharging scenarios in northern winter.
What is more valuable to the industry is that NFS materials have the characteristics of water solubility and easy recycling, which can directly dissolve in water to achieve low-cost closed-loop recycling, completely avoiding the complex recycling process and pollution problems of lithium batteries. Its 3.6-3.8V high voltage platform is fully compatible with existing iron lithium and ternary battery cell production lines, which means downstream battery manufacturers do not need to extensively modify production lines, reconfigure equipment and processes, and can quickly import NFS systems, greatly reducing the threshold for technology migration.
However, such high-performance materials face three major technical bottlenecks in practical applications: low battery energy density, cell swelling and rapid high-temperature cycling decay. Faced with difficulties, Dr. Liu Zhongqing did not choose to take a detour, but led the team to tackle them head-on. His unique approachSoft hard combination+skeleton construction Technology canThe compaction density of the polarizer has been increased to 2.7g/cm ³Directly breaking through the energy density bottleneck.
Sodium Yuan New Materials NFS System Material
And suppress material gas production from the source, achieving no bulging or swelling throughout the entire life cycle, and improving the safety performance of sodium batteries. The optimized formula allows the material to cycle 2000 times at a high temperature of 45 ℃, while maintaining its capacity retention rateMore than 80%Far exceeding the industry average. At this point, NFS material" Low cost, long lifespan, and safer;The theoretical advantage finally has the possibility of commercial release.
03. Scale implementation, a leap from laboratory to industrialization
Why is it said to be possible? Because from the laboratory to mass production, the risk increases exponentially:
A negligible deviation in the laboratory, magnified a hundred times, can become a roadblock to mass production implementation. How to control variables, ensure supply chain stability, and maintain consistency in product quality, each item is a more difficult "from 1 to N" after "from 0 to 1".
Since its establishment in 2022, in just four years, Na Yuan New Materials has not only achieved remarkable results in material applications, but also continuously expanded its research boundaries and invested in the research and production of non negative sodium ion batteries, achieving a breakthrough in the entire chain from laboratory technology to industrial implementation.
The 5000 ton production base in Jiangxi is operating at full capacity, with product consistency reaching over 99%. The construction of a new 10000 ton factory in Anhui is also accelerating, and strategic cooperation agreements have been signed with upstream and downstream enterprises to build a complete industrial loop from material research and development to battery design, from mass production supply to recycling. At present, the NFS materials produced by Na Yuan New Materials have been sent to sample customersOver 100 companiesSales have been achieved for orders of tons and tens of tons, and orders of thousands of tons have been signed.
2026 is the first year of development for sodium ion batteries, which officially move from laboratory to mass production and enter millions of households.
In April of this year, CATL announced on "Super Technology Day" that sodium ion batteries will achieve large-scale production in the fourth quarter of 2026, with a planned production capacity of 25-30GWh, covering four major fields: battery swapping, passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and energy storage. The chairman of the company, Zeng Yuqun, publicly stated that sodium ion batteries are expected to occupy 30% -40% of the market share in the future, and sodium batteries are officially moving from "technical alternatives" to "industry mainstream".
Diagram | Source Network
Institutions are also optimistic about the prospects of sodium batteries.
Dongwu Securities predicts that 2026 will be the first year of commercialization for sodium ion batteries, with global shipments expected to exceed 15GWh. By 2030, it is expected to exceed 500GWh, with a penetration rate of over 30%. Shenwan Hongyuan believes that sodium batteries are facing multiple catalysts such as convergence of technological routes, diffusion of demand applications, and cost reversal of lithium and sodium, and the industry is expected to experience exponential growth.
Through the cycle, Na Yuan New Materials has once again stood at the forefront of the industry. With the release of production capacity and technological iteration, NFS materials are expected to become the core pillar of the sodium electricity industry.
And Na Yuan New Materials will also take NFS materials as the core, accelerate industrial layout, deeply cover scenarios such as light power, start stop power supply, energy storage, consumer electronics, etc., and promote the new energy industry to move towards a safer, more economical, and greener new stage of development.
Write at the end:
Learning from the past, reviewing the development history of Dr. Liu Zhongqing and Na Yuan New Materials is a team that persevered in adversity, completed industrialization and achieved breakthroughs after four years of struggle. Dr. Liu Zhongqing was awarded the Jiangsu Youth May Fourth Medal this time, which not only recognizes the technological breakthrough of a young scientist, but also the courage of an entrepreneurial team to adhere to the original intention of innovation in the cold winter of the industry. It represents the sweat of the past four years of hard work and represents the expectation of infinite possibilities for the future.
The story of Na Yuan New Materials is still ongoing. In the wave of transformation in the new energy industry, this young team is setting sail and heading towards a broader future.
