All-Dry Production of Single-Crystal Nickel-Based NMC Materials: A Research, Scale-Up, and Engineering Joint Effort
摘要
NOVONIX developed a novel all-dry, zero-waste process to produce single-crystal nickel-based cathode active materials (e.g., NMC622, NMC811). The NOVONIX process, currently at the 10 tpa pilot-scale capacity, allows to synthesize phase-pure (layered NMC structures) and single-crystal primary particles with a good intraparticle elemental homogeneity. Furthermore, it has been identified that 1 Ah pouch battery cells incorporating NOVONIX’s NMC622 cathode powders have similar, if not superior, capacity retention (200+ cycles) than to battery cells containing commercial cathode powders with the same chemistry. As NOVONIX envisions the industrial development and production of SC-NMCs, it commissioned HATCH to help commercialize their process and compare it to the conventional processing route. The scoping study performed by HATCH indicated potential advantages of the NOVONIX process over the conventional processing route. The NOVONIX process avoids the generation of waste by-products such as Na2SO4 and potentially reduces operating (excluding material feedstock costs) and capital costs by 50% and 30%, respectively.