Tungsten Trioxide May Accelerate the Process of Cobalt-free Batteries

At present, tungsten trioxide nanoparticles, which are relatively reasonably priced and relatively loose in spot supply, may accelerate the production process of cobalt-free batteries.

In addition to the above-mentioned two advantages, the ultrafine tungsten trioxide particles also have the characteristics of smaller ignition weight loss ratio and volume expansion coefficient, higher theoretical specific capacity and chemical stability. According to energy storage researchers, it is very suitable to replace the cobalt element in the existing ternary materials. Under the premise of ensuring that the product has the original excellent cycle performance and rate performance, it can also alleviate the problem of short supply of cobalt resources and the high valuation.

Whether it is first-tier companies such as CATL, LG Chem, Panasonic, or second-tier companies such as Funeng Technology, Yiwei Lithium Energy, Lishen Battery, or some unknown third-tier companies, they have to endure the unstable supply of cobalt.

Cobalt is one of the core materials of lithium-ion batteries. It can not only stabilize the layered structure of the material, but also improve the charge-discharge rate performance of the material. However, excessive cobalt content will reduce the actual capacity of the battery. In the field of battery production, the demand for cobalt for consumer batteries such as digital products accounted for 43% of the total, and the demand for power batteries for electric vehicles accounted for 15%.

With the development of the new energy battery industry, global cobalt demand will increase at an average annual rate of 10% from 2017 to 2020, and the demand in 2017 and 2018 will reach 115,400 tons and 127,600 tons, respectively. With the continuous increase in sales of new energy vehicles, the supply of cobalt may be further gapped.

The data shows that in 2019, the world's proven cobalt ore reserves are about 7 million tons. Based on the global mining volume of 140,000 tons in 2019, there is only 50 years of cobalt left, compares to nickel, manganese, aluminum and other minerals which have reserves of one billion or even tens of billions of tons.

The tight supply of cobalt resources has caused the price of cobalt to rise all the way in recent years. Even in the current global economic environment and the impact of COVID-19, the price of cobalt has remained relatively high. The current price is around 237,500 RMB/ton.

In June 2018, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the cobalt content in Tesla batteries was only 3% at the time, and that it would be "cobalt-free" in the future. And Kenji Tamura, head of Tesla’s supplier Panasonic’s automotive battery business, also said that they have significantly reduced the use of cobalt and hope to achieve cobalt-free batteries in the near future. Research and development are currently in progress.

For the production of cobalt-free batteries, what kind of material should manufacturers choose to replace cobalt?

Some researchers say that you can choose to use transition metal tungsten trioxide powder instead of cobalt. Tungsten trioxide powder is a very typical nano material. Due to its small particle size and better dispersion performance, it has the characteristics of significant surface effect, quantum size effect and small size effect. If it is important as a cathode material, it can also improve the structural stability and rate performance of the product, making it more suitable as a power source for other equipment.

Therefore, using tungsten trioxide with a relatively wide range of sources as a substitute for cobalt is expected to accelerate the application of cobalt-free batteries in real life.

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