Nanocarbons Essential Role in Energy Storage: Technology and Market Outlook

R. Collins
IDTechEx,
United States

Keywords: graphene, nanotubes, lithium-ion battery, silicon anodes

Summary:

The drive towards electrification is the most significant market pull in the materials sector. IDTechEx provides granular forecasts for electric vehicles across land, sea, and air and anticipates a growth in annual demand to over 2,000 GWh of lithium-ion batteries by the end of the decade. The significance to overall vehicle price and performance and the scope for improvement means that research and industry activity into battery technology continues to accelerate; by way of example, cumulative funding for silicon anode start-ups is approaching $2 billion up to the end of 2021. There are many improvements to existing lithium-ion battery technologies and a large amount of competition for the next-generation in delivering faster charging, improved cycle life, greater safety, higher specific energy density, lower cost and more. Every year we are seeing the increasingly significant role of advanced carbon materials as enabling technologies. Right now, the multi-walled carbon nanotube industry is booming, primarily driven by their role in cathodes. Meanwhile, promising results from the graphene, SWCNT and synergistic hybrid materials could hold the key to the next jump in battery technology. This technical presentation will give an overview of the lithium-ion battery market, the CNT market, and the graphene market. This will include benchmarking studies, forecasts, price points and assessment of the unmet needs. The talk will go on to look at the emerging battery solutions and the critical role that nanocarbons will play in bringing them to market.