"Xinchen New Materials" received nearly 100 million yuan in B1 round of investment, and continued to promote the large-scale application of LiFSI, the main salt of a new generation of electrolyte 36 Krypton starters

Text| Wang Fangyu

Edit| Su Jianxun

36Kr learned that recently, Anhui Xinchen New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xinchen New Materials") has completed nearly 100 million yuan in B1 round of financing, and the investors are Wuyuan Capital, Zhongke Chuangxing, and Hefei Innovation Investment. The funds from this round of financing will be used for capacity construction, product research and development and market development.

Founded in December 2021, Xinchen New Materials is a lithium salt supplier of lithium battery electrolyte, and has received investment from well-known institutions such as Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund and Dongfang Fuhai in 2022. The company focuses on the R&D, manufacturing and sales of new electrolyte lithium salts and additives, and its main products include LiFSI (lithium bisfluorosulfonimide), NaFSI, LiODFB, LiBOB, etc.

As one of the main raw materials of lithium batteries, the electrolyte is composed of three parts, namely solute (providing lithium ions, accounting for 2/3 of the cost), solvent (providing lithium ion transmission medium) and additives (used in small quantities to improve performance). At present, lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6) is the most widely used electrolyte, but it has shortcomings such as poor thermal stability, poor high and low temperature performance, and easy hydrolysis, which cannot meet the needs of power batteries.

In contrast, LiFSI can greatly improve battery performance, and is significantly better than lithium hexafluorophosphate in terms of fast charging performance, high and low temperature performance, and long life, and can be adapted to a new generation of lithium battery technology routes such as 4680 batteries, semi-solid-state batteries, and gel batteries, and has the reputation of "the king of semi-solid-state battery electrolytes".

In the past, LiFSI was mainly used as an additive in lithium battery electrolytes to improve the performance of electrolytes. However, in the near future, with the gradual cost reduction and large-scale application of LiFSI, it has begun to evolve from a new additive to a mainstream lithium salt.

At present, battery giants have taken the lead in significantly adding LiFSI to improve battery performance. The agency Gaogong Lithium Battery predicts that the demand for LiFSI will reach 130,000 tons in 2025, with a market size of about 10.5 billion yuan, and if it is used as a solute to replace the existing lithium salt, the demand will reach 210,000 tons in 2025, with a market size of up to 17 billion yuan.

Xinchen new material production base Image source: enterprise authorization

Xinchen New Materials is currently one of the very few lithium salt manufacturers in China that can mass-produce the main salt grade LiFSI, and has built a production capacity of 2,000 tons of LiFSI and has achieved small batch shipments. Dr. Wang Chiwei, chairman of Xinchen New Materials, told 36Kr that the company's 2,000-ton high-purity crystal main salt LiFSI production line is the world's largest solid-state production line that has been mass-produced, and it is also the largest single capacity production line in the industry, truly realizing large-scale mass production of high-purity solid-state LiFSI.

In terms of market expansion, according to Wang Chiwei, Xinchen has sent samples to nearly ten leading battery factories and electrolyte factories, and has been unanimously recognized by downstream customers.

In addition, according to reports, Xinchen New Materials adopts an innovative process with intrinsic safety to achieve high-yield and high-efficiency preparation of vehicle-grade ultra-pure products, and a number of technologies have reached the international or domestic leading level, and 6 invention patents and 14 utility model patents have been authorized.

Although LiFSI has better performance, the high cost hinders its market expansion to a certain extent, and cost reduction is the key to opening up the downstream market. Xinchen New Materials is committed to opening up the cost reduction path of LiFSI, and its goal is to reduce the finished product to the same level as lithium hexafluorophosphate by the end of 2025, so as to achieve most of the substitution of lithium hexafluorophosphate.

Wang Chiwei told 36 Carbon that the cost structure of electrolyte lithium salt mainly includes three parts, one is the BOM (raw material) cost, the second is the manufacturing cost, and the third is direct labor. In terms of BOM cost, LiFSI is theoretically slightly lower than hexafluorine, but it is still higher than hexafluorine, mainly due to low yield, complex by-product treatment, and insignificant scale effect.

For the three parts, Xinchen New Materials has corresponding cost reduction paths. "By reducing the cost of the process, we plan to achieve the comprehensive yield of the whole process by the end of 2025 close to the current level of lithium hexafluorophosphate; in terms of manufacturing costs, we will reduce water and electricity consumption, by-product treatment, depreciation, etc. through the reshaping of the division of labor in the industrial chain, the exhaustion of by-product treatment, and the continuous optimization of the investment scale per ton; and the third direct labor will reduce costs through the improvement of automation and the expansion of scale. Wang Chiwei said.

With the acceleration of power battery technological innovation, the innovation of materials and chemical systems has increasingly become the core competitiveness of the battery industry, and is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future.

"LiFSI is an entry point for us to enter the battery materials industry, and in the future, we will provide more and more new battery material products that can solve the pain points of the industry. Wang Chiwei said that the company's vision is to become a global leader in electrochemical materials, promote the development of the battery industry through material innovation, and help batteries truly meet the needs of application scenarios with all-weather conditions, safe and long life, and fast charging and high efficiency.

Institutional Perspectives:

Xu Xiaoyu, an investor from Wuyuan Capital, the lead investor in this round, said that LiFSI can be used as a lithium battery electrolyte with excellent performance in the direction of next-generation electrolytes, solid-state batteries, silicon-based anodes, etc., with the advantages of large lithium ion mobility number, high conductivity, and excellent low-temperature performance. We look forward to Dr. Wang and his experienced team to realize a wider application of LiFSI in the lithium battery industry with their process technology advantages and continuous innovation spirit."

Zhongke Chuangxing said: LiFSI, as the next generation of new electrolyte lithium salt, is the key direction of Zhongke Chuangxing's layout in the lithium battery industry chain. Xinchen New Materials is positioned as the main salt of automotive-grade high-purity crystals, and is expected to replace LiPF6 with technological innovation, industrial cycle and scale. Xinchen new materials team is a rare industry chain, full functional, experienced expert team, we are optimistic about the development potential of the team in the field of lithium battery key materials, and work together to promote the upgrading of the lithium battery industry.

Hefei Innovation Investment said that the new energy and new materials industry has always been one of the key areas of Hefei Innovation Investment, and Xinchen New Materials is guided by LiFSI, the main salt of vehicle specification grade, and has made breakthroughs and innovations in fluorination, crystallization, and impurity removal, and the company has always adhered to technological innovation as the core drive, and actively developed a new generation of electrolyte technology. Hefei Innovation Investment hopes that through this round of capital increase, it will bring the advantages of Hefei's scientific and technological innovation and industrial ecology to help Xinchen New Materials achieve greater breakthroughs.