Although some performance indicators of NCA materials are excellent, the road to large-scale commercialization is long and tortuous. To achieve large-scale industrial applications, NCA lithium-ion batteries still face many technical challenges.

　　Compared with foreign counterparts, although domestic manufacturers have completed preliminary exploration of related technologies, they have been affected by the continued decline in the price of conventional nickel-manganese-cobalt multi-materials (NMC) in the domestic and foreign markets, and the market demand is still dominated by small consumer batteries. The combined influence of factors. NCA materials have not been mass-produced and sold in China, and there are still some technical problems that need to be resolved. It is foreseeable that with the rise of the electric vehicle and energy storage market, the market demand for NCA materials will increase substantially. Domestic companies need to take this opportunity to increase investment and advance the development of localized NCA materials. Although some performance indicators of NCA materials are excellent, the road to large-scale commercialization is long and tortuous. To achieve large-scale industrial applications, NCA lithium-ion batteries still face many technical challenges.

　　01

　　NCA material preparation technology is more difficult

　　"First of all, the preparation process of the NCA precursor LiNi0.8Co0.15Al0.05(OH)2 is technically difficult. The sedimentation pH values of Ni and Co elements are quite different, and their solubility product constants are nickel hydroxide 10-16, cobalt hydroxide 10-14.9, and aluminum hydroxide 10-33. It is difficult for aluminum ion to complex reaction with ammonia, so it is used In the conventional co-precipitation method, aluminum ions can easily form flocculent products. And Al(OH)3 is an amphoteric hydroxide, which decomposes into AlO2-1 at a higher pH value, resulting in uneven element distribution of the precipitation product of nickel, cobalt and aluminum, difficult to grow in particle size, low bulk density, and sodium at the same time The problem of difficult to deal with impurities such as sulphur, sulphur, etc., was not solved until the sodium aluminate process was adopted to solve the problem of co-precipitation of aluminum.

　　Due to the thermodynamic instability of Ni3+, the sintering temperature of NCA cannot be too low or too high. Too low Ni2+ is difficult to oxidize to Ni3+, and too high Ni3+ will decompose to Ni2+. Therefore, the optimum sintering temperature condition is generally 750～800℃.

　　02

　　Special production equipment requirements

　　Since NCA requires a pure oxygen atmosphere, it has high requirements on the tightness of production equipment. At the same time, the oxidation resistance of the internal components of the kiln equipment is very high. The kiln that produces ordinary multi-material materials fails to meet the requirements, and domestic equipment manufacturers are suitable for high nickel The design and manufacturing experience of professional kilns for cathode materials is insufficient, and the quality reliability is not high.

　　03

　　Material production costs are high

　　For ordinary ternary materials, only air atmosphere is needed in the production process, while NCA requires pure oxygen atmosphere. The cost of pure oxygen is high, and it has extremely high requirements for oxygen production and supply equipment. At the same time, NCA is sensitive to temperature and humidity. The humidity of the production environment is controlled below 10%, which increases the cost of production and management.

　　04

　　NCA battery design and manufacture are more difficult

　　The thermal stability of high nickel materials under the state of charge is low, which leads to a decrease in the safety of the battery. It is necessary to carry out a reliable and safe design from the cell design, power supply system design, and power use, so that battery manufacturers and end product users There are concerns about the safety of NCA batteries; on the other hand, serious gas production during charging and discharging leads to swelling and deformation of the battery, reduced cycle and shelf life, and safety hazards to the battery. Therefore, the 18650-type cylinder is usually made of NCA cathode material. Battery to alleviate the problem of battery swelling and deformation. TeslaModelS uses a high-capacity 3.1AhNCA lithium battery pack jointly developed with Panasonic and consists of 7000 18650 cylindrical batteries.

　　The surface of the NCA material is relatively alkaline, the electrode slurry viscosity is unstable, and the viscosity increases or even jelly occurs, which leads to poor coating performance during the production of the battery plate; the NCA material is sensitive to humidity, easy to absorb moisture, and The Li2O in the material continuously reacts with CO2, leading to material performance degradation or even failure. Therefore, during the battery production process, the electrode slurry, electrode plate, and coil core are very sensitive to moisture. The entire production environment has strict requirements on humidity, resulting in equipment Investment and production costs are relatively high. Therefore, domestic battery manufacturers are actively developing the NCA battery system, most of which are in the stage of tracking research and technological exploration, and there is still a certain gap between the requirements of industrialized applications.