Lithium electric binder PVDF demand is growing rapidly

In recent years, with the rapid development of the new energy industry, the application ratio of PVDF in the direction of new energy has also increased significantly. In lithium-ion batteries, PVDF is mainly used as a binder for cathode materials, accounting for 18.8% of the total consumption at present. Another big application in the field of new energy is the photovoltaic back panel film. With its excellent weather resistance, it can effectively protect the PET base film of the middle layer of the back panel and improve the service life of the whole module. At present, this part of the application accounts for 10.1% of the total consumption of PVDF. In addition, PVDF is also used as a water treatment membrane, accounting for 13.0% left.

Coating production increased steadily, contributing to the steady increase in demand for PVDF

With the continuous emergence of high-rise buildings, the safety, stain resistance and durability of buildings are becoming more and more important, and the use of external wall tiles and porcelain veneers is gradually limited. At the same time, glass curtain wall is also limited in exterior wall decoration due to light pollution and other problems. In 2015, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development stipulated that glass curtain walls should not be used on the second floor or above in new residential buildings, outpatient and emergency rooms and ward buildings of hospitals, and primary and secondary schools.

The increase of capital expenditure in chemical industry drives the increase of PVDF usage

PVDF through injection molding can form all kinds of pipes, valves and other plastic parts. PVDF is one of the best materials for pumps, valves, pipes, piping fittings, storage tanks and heat exchangers used as integral or lining fluid handling systems for petrochemical and other industrial equipment due to its excellent resistance to chlorine, bromohalogen and halogen compounds, as well as its excellent chemical and workability resistance and fatigue and creep resistance.

Water treatment demand increases year by year, PVDF material has superior performance

Water treatment membranes are another big downstream application area of PVDF, accounting for 13% of total consumption in 2020. In the process of water treatment, PVDF is mainly used in three fields: municipal sewage treatment, advanced treatment of industrial sewage, seawater desalination and desalination. Compared with other membrane products, PVDF water treatment membrane shows certain advantages in pure water flux, strength, pollution resistance, strong acid and alkali resistance, oxidation resistance and so on.

Lithium electric binder is the fastest developing application of PVDF in recent years

Lithium ion battery is mainly composed of positive electrode, negative electrode, diaphragm, electrolyte four parts. Binder is one of the important components of lithium ion battery electrode plate, is the active material and conductive electrode plate adhesion to the electrode collector fluid polymer compounds, has the effect of enhancing the contact between the active material, conductive and fluid collector and stabilizing the structure of the electrode plate, lithium ion battery material is a high technical content of additional materials.

Lithium battery has high requirement on binder performance

The binder used for lithium ion battery needs to be infiltrated by organic electrolyte, resist its erosion, do not dissolve, less swelling, and maintain good bonding performance in the environment of organic electrolyte. In addition, for the positive electrode binder, it is required to have good electrochemical stability, decomposition voltage at 4.5V (decomposition voltage is the minimum voltage required for electrolyte decomposition on the electrode, lithium electrode is mainly used as a reference, if the decomposition voltage of the binder is low, it is easy to be decomposed in the battery work, is not conducive to the normal operation of lithium electricity).

PVDF is the most widely used binder for the positive electrode of lithium battery

Because PVDF has excellent chemical stability and corrosion resistance, can effectively resist the erosion of polar organic solvent electrolyte, and has good bonding performance, so it is widely used in the positive electrode binder of lithium battery, accounting for up to 90% at present.

Battery grade PVDF has high technical requirements

In order to effectively increase the energy density, the amount of lithium battery binder needs to be small and can play a good bond. In order to ensure better bonding performance, battery grade PVDF generally needs to have a high molecular weight, generally more than 1.1 million. At the same time, in order to avoid the harm caused by water to lithium-ion batteries, the water content of the binder is also required to be low. In addition, in order to ensure the uniformity of lithium ion batteries, battery manufacturers have very high requirements on the consistency of the performance of different batches of PVDF purchased.

The binder is relatively low in the cost of lithium-ion batteries

In the cost of lithium materials, cathode materials account for 61%; The cathode material and electrolyte accounted for 12% and 11% respectively; In addition, the diaphragm also accounts for 6% of the cost. And binder in the relatively small, about 1%, this is mainly because the binder as a non-active substance of the battery, too much will cause the battery energy density is reduced, and will make the electrode piece conductivity is bad, not conducive to the play of battery capacity. (Report source: Future Think Tank)

With the rapid development of new energy, the output of lithium batteries continues to grow

The implementation of the "two-carbon" strategy, and in order to reduce oil dependence and promote the upgrading of the automobile industry structure, the country vigorously promotes new energy vehicles. In recent years, the output of new energy vehicles is also growing rapidly. In 2020, the output of new energy vehicles reached 1.456 million, up 22.35 percent year on year; Compared with 461,000 units in 2016, the annual compound growth rate is as high as 33.31%.

The rapid growth of cathode material shipments drives the demand for PVDF

As the mainstream binder of lithium cathode materials, PVDF accounts for 1%-3% of the mass of cathode materials, among which lithium iron phosphate requires a higher amount of binder due to its smaller diameter. According to the data of Baichuan Information News, in 2020, the consumption of PVDF for lithium batteries will be 8009.22 tons left. With the rapid growth of the production of lithium batteries and cathode materials, the demand for PVDF will also usher in rapid growth.

The demand of PVDF for lithium electric binder grows rapidly in the future

With the rapid development of new energy vehicles, consumer electronics, energy storage and other fields, the total installed lithium-ion battery is also growing rapidly. We forecast that the total installed lithium-ion battery will reach 394, 597, 855, 1186, 1558GWh in 2021-2025. In general, 1,500-1,800 tons of terene cathode material or 2,200-2,500 tons of lithium iron phosphate cathode material are required for the production of 1GWh lithium battery. Based on the calculation of 2,000 tons of cathode material required for the production unit GWh of lithium electricity, the demand for positive electrode will reach 3,116,000 tons in 2025.

Coated diaphragms will be another growth area for PVDF

With the development of lithium batteries towards greater energy density and higher power, high-performance diaphragm coatings are needed to further improve the performance of batteries, including: (1) improve the temperature resistance of diaphragm. (2) Bonding pole plate and diaphragm, convenient assembly. (3) Increase the infiltration of the diaphragm to the electrolyte and improve the quantity of electrolyte. (4) Increase diaphragm safety of high voltage system.

Photovoltaic backplane is an important application field of PVDF

Photovoltaic backplane is an important part of photovoltaic module, located on the back of the module, used to resist the environmental impact of light, humidity and heat on packaging adhesive film, battery and other materials erosion, play the role of weather-resistant insulation, so the photovoltaic backplane film is required to have excellent high and low temperature resistance, ultraviolet radiation resistance, environmental aging resistance and water vapor barrier, electrical insulation and other properties. To meet the photovoltaic modules of 25 years and more life.

PVDF series backplane is the mainstream application in the market

The backplane is mainly divided into organic polymers and inorganic substances according to the materials. The organic polymers include two sided fluorine, one side fluorine and no fluorine, and the inorganic substances are mainly glass. From the point of view of the degree of environmental weatherability, double-sided fluorine, single-sided fluorine, fluorine free panels.

PVDF has better performance

Compared with PVF, PVDF has higher fluoride content, stronger weather resistance and higher flame retardant grade. At the same time, the dipole moment of PVDF molecule is large and easy to crystallize. The water permeability of PVDF film with the same thickness is only about one tenth of that of PVF film. In addition, PVDF film has better processability, the difference between melting temperature and thermal decomposition temperature is as high as 170℃, without adding a latent solvent or copolymerization modification can be good film formation, is the most easy to process fluorine plastic variety.

Double-sided components bring pressure, the rapid development of the industry still support demand growth

At present, organic film backplanes are still the mainstream in the market, accounting for 86.5% in 2019, among which KPK/KPF/KPE backplanes dominated by PVDF account for 59.5%, and TPT/TPF/TPE structures dominated by PVF account for 14%. At present, the glass backboard accounts for 13.5%, mainly used for double glass components.

Pv demand for PVDF will maintain steady growth

According to CPIA's prediction of the installed PV capacity in the future, it is estimated that under the condition of maintenance, the demand for the backplane from 2021 to 2025 will be 7.5, 9.0, 10.5, 12 and 1.35 billion square meters according to the 5 million square meters of photovoltaic backplane used for each GW of photovoltaic module packaging. Under the optimistic scenario, the demand for backboards from 2021 to 2025 will be 8.5, 11.25, 13.5, 15.0 and 1.65 billion square meters respectively.

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