What are the difficulties and development direction of lithium titanate battery technology development?

　　Lithium titanate material has advantages and disadvantages as a lithium battery negative electrode. Advantages: ultra-high safety, ultra-long life, wide high and low temperature working range, high power, low cost, and environmental protection. Disadvantages: Lithium titanate material has low energy density, strong water absorption, high environmental requirements for battery production, corresponding updates to the production process, new processes need to invest in necessary equipment and higher requirements for humidity control, and lithium titanate batteries The application market has not yet been fully opened.

　　Difficulties and development direction of lithium titanate battery technology development

　　1. Reasons for developing lithium titanate battery technology in China

　　The competition of lithium titanate battery technology in various energy storage batteries in our country should have the advantages of time, location and people. In terms of service life alone, the long cycle life of lithium titanate batteries is far better than that of various lead-acid batteries; its efficiency, cost and electrochemical performance are even better than those of sodium-sulfur and flow vanadium battery systems.

　　The main market for lithium battery products has been portable electrical appliances such as mobile phones and laptop computers over the years. Although the use of mobile phones and laptops in China is large, most of them are not domestic brands. Therefore, the sales capacity of domestic lithium battery manufacturers in portable appliances is lower than that of Japanese and Korean products.

　　However, the applicable market for lithium titanate technology is hybrid electric vehicles, special industrial applications and energy storage applications such as frequency modulation and grid voltage support. These markets are still in their infancy in the world, and it is not yet known who is the leader. Lithium titanate technology is expected to become a leader in these markets.

　　China's population base accounts for about 1/5 of the world. Due to its large population, China's electric vehicle, energy storage and industrial application market is a huge market coveted by multinational companies in many countries. In recent years, the Chinese government has attached great importance to the development of electric vehicles and energy storage industries, and various national incentive policies have been introduced. China-made lithium titanate battery systems have accumulated commercial application data for several years in hybrid electric buses in Chongqing and Europe, wind and solar storage demonstration stations in Zhangbei, and Baoqing energy storage power stations in Shenzhen.

　　In addition, the upstream and downstream of my country's lithium battery industry chain have long been a climate. In addition to the complete battery material supply and equipment manufacturing capacity, the production capacity of lithium battery products is also one-third of the world's Japan and South Korea. This allows my country's lithium battery manufacturers to transform from traditional lithium battery production to lithium titanate battery product production with innate conditions.

　　my country has already had strong and experienced enterprises such as Xingneng, Zhuhai Yinlong, and Huzhou Weihong in the production of lithium titanate materials. Representative companies that stand out in the production of lithium titanate batteries include Huzhou Weihong, Zhuhai Yinlong, Shenzhen Bo Leida, and Tianjin Gateway.

　　These companies have initially established their own sales channels in the domestic and international electric vehicle and energy storage markets. It is especially worth pointing out that Shenzhen Bo Leida has a series of proprietary technologies and intellectual property rights from material production to battery production and system integration. At present, China's lithium battery industry is still a rare manufacturer with independent intellectual property rights.

　　2. Bottlenecks in the production of lithium titanate materials, batteries and battery packs

　　Since lithium titanate battery technology has many advantages that other lithium batteries can’t match, why has it been applied so far in China’s energy industry and even the world’s energy sector? The reasons are as follows:

　　①The production of lithium titanate materials is not complicated in principle. However, to be used as a negative electrode material for lithium-ion batteries, not only must the material have suitable specific surface area, particle size, density, and electrochemical performance, but also must be able to adapt to the large-scale lithium battery production process. One of the reasons why lithium titanate materials cannot be produced normally on many traditional lithium battery production lines is that the pH of the materials is 11 or 12, which is extremely hygroscopic.

　　②Lithium titanate battery production. In fact, directly using conventional lithium-ion battery production lines to produce lithium titanate battery products is not as simple as replacing graphite with lithium titanate materials. Because lithium titanate materials have much higher humidity requirements than conventional lithium-ion battery production. In order to control the humidity, some preparation processes need to be adjusted accordingly to meet the special requirements of the production of lithium titanate battery products. In addition, some production equipment also needs to be improved accordingly. If possible, it is best to redesign a compact, compact and fully enclosed automated production line for lithium titanate battery products.

　　③Lithium titanate battery packs are different from conventional lithium-ion batteries. At present, lithium titanate batteries produced at home and abroad will often see a small amount of gas in the soft-packed single cells after being put into use for a period of time. These gases are different from those produced when fresh batteries are formed. The former can be removed through the battery production process. However, the latter is produced during battery use, or it is difficult to avoid under current process conditions.

　　The author believes that studying the chemical reaction mechanism of gas during circulation should be a good scientific research topic. In addition, one of the advantages of lithium titanate battery technology is its high power performance. Although the battery itself can withstand high-current charging and discharging, thick single-cell batteries are still not suitable for high-power applications because too thick batteries will make it difficult to dissipate the heat generated by high currents. Therefore, for high-power lithium titanate batteries, a large and thin soft-pack battery structure is still a reasonable choice.

　　3. Future development direction of lithium titanate technology

　　Finally, it is necessary to summarize the advantages and disadvantages of lithium titanate materials as lithium battery anodes. Advantages: ultra-high safety, ultra-long life, wide high and low temperature working range, high power, low cost, and environmental protection. Disadvantages: Lithium titanate material has low energy density, strong water absorption, high environmental requirements for battery production, corresponding updates to the production process, new processes need to invest in necessary equipment and higher requirements for humidity control, and lithium titanate batteries The application market has not yet been fully opened.