Japanese Nonferrous Metal Companies Advance Li Battery Material Businesses

Japanese nonferrous metal companies are accelerating development and production of lithium ion battery materials. Mitsubishi Materials announced on Monday the firm developed new negative electrode material for next generation lithium ion battery, using tin based alloy. The firm plans sample shipment and commercial production of new material and aims 20% market share 5 years later.

On the same day, Mitsui Mining & Smelting announced the firm introduces production facilities for manganese based positive electrode material applied to automotive lithium ion battery in Takehara Refinery in Hiroshima, Japan. The firm will construct a new factory inside Takehara Refinery with approximately 7 billion yen investment. The factory is scheduled to start the product supply in fiscal 2012 (starting in April 2012) with output capacity at 12,000 tonnes per year.

Mitsubishi Materials refined particles of tin based alloy electrode material to less than 2 micrometers diameter while realized spatial structure in order to ease deformation. Thin particle and spatial structure enabled higher capacity and longer life of lithium ion battery compared with conventional carbon based negative electrode.

Mitsubishi Materials also developed new technology to manufacture composite negative electrode containing carbon based material, newly developed electrode material and carbon nano fiber as conducting agent. This composition helps new electrode material to represent the best performances.

Mitsui Mining & Smelting presently produces manganese based positive electrode material for lithium ion battery at approximately 80 tonnes per month. The main applications are electric power tools and cellular phones. The firm starts the material supply to automotive application and expands the output capacity to 10 times.