For Lithium-ion Battery Materials Manufacturers: Introduction of Products to Solve Issues

Contents

• Current situation and issues facing lithium-ion battery materials manufacturers
  1-1 Industry trends
  1-2 Issues facing the industry
  1-3 Importance of quality control
• Products recommended by Hitachi High-Tech to help solve issues
  2-1 Changing the materials development process: Chemicals Informatics
  2-2 HITACHI HIGH-TECH MI SOLUTIONS (Materials Informatics/Process Informatics)
  2-3 Ultrahigh-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscope SU8600

Overview

One major issue faced by the industry is supply risks related to lithium-ion battery raw materials, including difficulties procuring rare metals and their soaring prices. To respond to this issue, there is ongoing research aimed at switching to more inexpensive manganese and iron-based alternatives. The related environmental issues must not be ignored, and the social and environmental problems surrounding cobalt mining are becoming increasingly serious.
At the same time, the development of materials is an urgent issue, but such development requires a great deal of time and money, and—as competition continues to heat up—manufacturers are faced with the challenge of promoting such efforts as efficiently as possible. To address such challenges, Hitachi High-Tech has developed materials development solutions.
Chemicals Informatics—which shortens the development period and reduces the development costs—as well as Materials Informatics (MI) and Process Informatics (PI)—which can be used to improve the yield through materials-development and production-condition optimization—can help solve issues related to the lithium-ion battery R&D and manufacturing processes.