Advanced Conductive Additives for Next Generation Li-ion Batteries

The Li-ion battery market is undergoing explosive growth with more than 2 TWh of announced capacity by 2026, primarily driven by automotive electrification. This rapid expansion has resulted in the development of new battery chemistries and the utilization of new materials to increase battery capacity, improve safety, extend battery lifetime, and provide faster charge/discharge capabilities. To meet this market demand, Birla Carbon and Chasm Advanced Materials have partnered to develop next-generation hybrid carbon black/carbon nanotube conductive additives. This novel material known as nanotube-enhanced carbon black (NTeC-B) provides the synergistic combination of carbon black’s superior dispersion and morphological control with carbon nanotube’s high conductivity. The unique in-situ manufacturing process of this product allows for intimate mixing of the nanomaterials and high levels of dispersion that are not achievable through standard blending and mixing processes. This hybrid nanomaterial has also demonstrated the potential to contribute to higher anode capacity as well as improved rate capability compared to current state-of-the-art conductive additives.