Graphite As an Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries
As the world shifts towards an electrified future, graphite plays a key role in lithium-ion batteries (LIB) that power everything from electric vehicles to grid-scale energy storage stations. In fact, anode material accounts for nearly 50% of the total volume of a Li-ion battery cell.
To make LIBs, graphite anode materials must be able to conduct lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes. This is critical to achieving high power and energy density in LIBs, which are becoming increasingly popular for portable electronics as well as military, electric vehicle, stationary energy storage and aerospace applications. However, typical graphite anode materials experience high irreversible loss due to their large surface area, which consumes available Li+ ions. Superior Graphite’s new anode material overcomes this limitation by creating low surface areas to limit ion consumption and reduce irreversible loss.
Achieving these improvements requires the right raw materials and processing technology. The raw material needed for graphite anode materials is either natural flake or synthetic graphite, both of which require chemical purification and/or graphitization through thermal processes at temperatures up to 3,000°C. Most of the world’s graphite-based anode precursor material and the majority of the global supply of synthetic flake graphite used in batteries is currently produced in China, using needle coke as a primary raw material.
Providing resilient and sustainable supply for critical materials like graphite is a top priority for battery manufacturers and other suppliers. That’s why SGL Carbon is working on ramping up US sourced raw graphite in Alabama, Brazil and Mozambique, as well as investing in innovative technologies to improve the quality of battery anode material. Moreover, as a development partner and materials specialist SGL Carbon offers battery manufacturers tailor-made graphitic anode material for their specific requirements and comprehensive testing services in its Battery Application Laboratory.
