Patented technology introduction of lithium battery ternary materials

　　A brief introduction to the patented technology of lithium battery ternary materials

　　A few days ago, at the sixth meeting of the sixth council of the China Chemical and Physical Power Industry Association, Secretary-General Liu Yanlong particularly emphasized the patent technology layout of lithium battery ternary materials. He pointed out that under the hot industry trend of ternary lithium batteries, especially high-nickel ternary, many domestic cathode material companies are facing huge foreign patent fees in their development. Regarding this issue, the association will hold a seminar in the near future to take countermeasures to alleviate the cost pressure in the development of the enterprise.

　　So, what is the current status of the domestic lithium battery ternary material patent technology layout?

　　The core patent is to "overtake on a curve"

　　Professionals have conducted statistics on domestic and foreign patents in the field of ternary materials. The results show that: First, the development of domestic ternary materials started late, and basic and core patents are lacking. There is still a big gap with Japanese and Korean companies and 3M companies in the United States.

　　For example, on November 15, 2005, 3M obtained the US patent US6964828B2 and its family of patents CN100403585C for NiCoMn ternary materials, which mainly limited the content of Ni in NiCoMn, which became the basic core patent of ternary materials. The development of ternary materials in China's lithium battery industry.

　　Secondly, the patents surrounding the modification of ternary materials are mainly to improve the electrochemical performance, but the safety and cost issues have not been effectively broken through. In contrast to the rapid growth of invention patents for improving electrochemical performance, the number of applications for the safety and cost reduction of ternary materials has been increasing slowly. This also shows that under the condition that R&D investment has increased significantly and battery safety is very important, the safety and cost issues of ternary materials have not been effectively broken.

　　Take the invention patent "Preparation Method of Titanium Sol Coated Modified Ternary Cathode Material" of a domestic research institute as an example. This invention patent modifies the ternary cathode material by optimizing the coating process, which can effectively improve the first coulomb of the material. Efficiency and discharge specific capacity, but there is no obvious improvement in other aspects such as the cycle performance of the material. In addition, a large amount of alcohol is used in the coating process, which has higher requirements for process equipment and workshop conditions (explosion-proof workshop), and the recycling of alcohol also requires additional processing costs.

　　Based on the above analysis, Battery China.com believes that there are two points that domestic cathode material companies need to focus on: First, domestic ternary material patent applications are relatively scattered, especially leading companies are less involved, the overall research atmosphere is not strong, and domestic companies need to pay attention to cathode materials. The research and development of materials and the protection of intellectual property rights; second, there is a large room for development in the safety and cost of ternary materials. The layout of foreign applicants is not perfect. If domestic enterprises can increase R&D investment in these areas and master core patents as soon as possible, it is possible to achieve "curving overtaking" in the field of ternary materials.

　　Patent license or helplessness

　　The industry consensus is that in addition to actively attaching importance to independent research and development and protection of intellectual property rights, domestic cathode material companies should also license patents among companies as an option for sustainable development of the industry. Battery China.com found that the recent layout of the patents of cathode material companies is as follows: