Is This Price Correct? The Ultimate Electric Vehicle Battery Is Here... 'Price Bully' Cobalt Reduced and 'Kind' Nickel Increased

UNIST Faculty Startup SM Lab Develops Single-Crystal Material Technology for EV Cathode Materials

‘High-Nickel’ Cathode Material with 16% Increased Capacity, Mass Production Verification Planned for Early 2022

Scanning electron microscope image of the developed material.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] A ‘final boss’ material that drastically reduces the price of electric vehicle batteries has been developed, attracting global attention in the battery market.

About 40% of the price of electric vehicle batteries comes from cathode materials containing expensive cobalt.

To lower the price, cobalt usage must be minimized while increasing capacity, and a creative solution has been proposed by a faculty startup company at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST). It is the ‘Ni98 NCMA (NiCoMnAl) single crystal material,’ expected to be the ‘final boss’ of high-nickel materials.

Professor Jo Jae-pil, Distinguished Professor of the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering (CEO of SMLab).

SMLAB, founded by Professor Jae-Pil Cho of the Department of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST, developed cathode materials for electric vehicle batteries that reduce the expensive cobalt (Co) content to less than 1% and increase the nickel (Ni) content up to 98%.

Nickel content is a key factor determining battery capacity, and this is the first report of cathode materials developed with nickel content raised to 98%.

Cathode materials with nickel content above 80% (NCM, NCA) are called ‘high-nickel materials.’

They have attracted attention in the battery industry because they minimize the use of expensive cobalt while delivering high capacity.

The core technology is to maximize nickel content to extend driving range while improving lifespan characteristics, and SMLAB succeeded in raising nickel content to 98%.

Generally, increasing nickel content by 1% increases capacity by 2Ah (ampere-hours) per kilogram of material.

Raising nickel content from 90% to 98% can thus increase capacity by 16Ah.

CEO Jae-Pil Cho, a distinguished professor at UNIST and head of SMLAB, explained, “Considering that the amount of cathode material typically used in electric vehicle batteries is 100kg, this means an increase of 1600Ah in capacity, leading to extended driving range.” He added, “The actual realized capacity of battery cells applying Ni98 cathode materials is 230Ah/kg.”

Increasing battery capacity can reduce lifespan and stability. SMLAB addressed this by applying a ‘new ceramic-based coating material.’

Comparison of Battery Capacity by Material.

The nickel content of currently commercialized high-nickel materials is about 88?90%, and during cathode synthesis, a washing process is required to remove lithium impurities remaining on the material surface by rinsing with water.

However, during this washing process, a large amount of elements dissolve in water, making it difficult to secure mass production quality.

At the ‘2021 The Battery Conference,’ three domestic battery manufacturers theoretically suggested the maximum nickel content feasible for mass production is 94%, but have yet to develop it, partly due to this issue.

Another problem is that current commercial cathode materials are in a ‘polycrystalline form,’ where very small particles are clustered together.

Polycrystalline materials easily break during the rolling process, which is a manufacturing step for battery materials.

Rolling involves passing aluminum plates coated with cathode materials through rotating rolls to produce plates of uniform thickness. Polycrystalline materials break during this process, promoting unwanted reactions inside the battery.

This increases gas generation and affects charge-discharge cycles, reducing battery lifespan. SMLAB significantly reduced these problems by producing cathode materials in a ‘single crystal form.’

The newly developed Ni98 NCMA single crystal material contains less than 1% cobalt, the most expensive component, giving it a cost advantage. Typically, Ni90 cathode materials use more than 5% cobalt, increasing costs.

Professor Jae-Pil Cho proudly stated, “SMLAB succeeded in developing cathode materials with 98% nickel content two years ahead of competitors,” and added, “We plan to verify mass production in early 2022.”

Founded in July 2018, SMLAB is a startup with technology to mass-produce NCM(A) and NCA with nickel content above 83% in single crystal form without the washing process.

By July 2023, they plan to increase production of these single crystal cathode materials from the current 7,200 tons to 21,600 tons. SMLAB’s cumulative investment funding has reached 64 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.