Anode glue (negative electrode adhesive) shipments continue to grow and demand is strong in the lithium-ion battery field

Negative glue, also known as negative binder and negative adhesive, refers to the material that can bond the battery negative active material and the current collector together. Negative electrode glue has the advantages of good chemical stability, high bonding strength, and high temperature resistance, and is widely used in the field of lithium-ion batteries. According to different solvents, negative electrode glue can be divided into two categories: water-based negative electrode glue and oil-based negative electrode glue.

The main raw materials of negative electrode glue include polyacrylic acid (PAA), sodium carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), etc. Polyacrylic acid, also known as acrylic acid homopolymer, has scale inhibition and high water solubility, and can be used to produce water-based negative electrode glue; polyvinylidene fluoride has the advantages of good thermal stability and strong resistance to oxidation and reduction, and can be used to produce oil-based negative electrode glue. According to the “2023-2028 China Anode Adhesive (Anode Adhesive) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center 》shows that in recent years, benefiting from the improved technological maturity of local companies and sufficient supply of raw materials, my country’s negative electrode glue shipments have continued to grow, reaching 218,000 tons in 2022.

In terms of product segmentation, compared with oil-based negative electrode glue, water-based negative electrode glue has the advantages of low production cost, green environmental protection, and good safety, and is the mainstream product in the negative electrode glue market. Water-based negative electrode glue includes PAA negative electrode glue, CMC negative electrode glue and SBR negative electrode glue. Benefiting from the growth in market demand, the prosperity of the water-based negative electrode adhesive industry continues to increase. In 2022, the global PAA negative electrode glue market will reach 1.86 billion yuan, and the SBR negative electrode glue market will reach 2.67 billion yuan.

The lithium-ion battery field is the main demand side for negative electrode glue. Lithium-ion batteries are the power batteries for new energy vehicles. With the rapid economic development and the improvement of national living standards, the development speed of my country’s new energy vehicle industry continues to accelerate. According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to May 2023, my country’s new energy vehicle sales reached 2.94 million units, a year-on-year increase of 46.8%, accounting for 27.7% of total new vehicle sales. As the sales of new energy vehicles increase, the demand for lithium-ion battery applications is increasingly strong, which provides favorable conditions for the development of my country’s anode glue industry.

The main players in the global anode glue market include Germany’s BASF, Nippon Paper, Japan’s Daicel, Japan’s Zeon, and the Netherlands’ Nouryon. The main players in my country’s anode glue market include Huitian New Materials, Jingrui Electronics, Yanyi New Materials, Indile, etc. Huitian New Material is my country’s leading negative electrode glue company, with large-scale production capabilities of SBR negative electrode glue and PAA negative electrode glue. In 2022, its water-based negative electrode glue production capacity will rank first in my country.

Industry analysts said that negative electrode glue is an important auxiliary material for lithium-ion batteries, benefiting from the accelerated development of downstream industries and its market demand continues increase. In recent years, Chinese companies have continued to increase their investment in research and development of water-based negative electrode adhesives, driving their market share to further increase. It is expected that in the future, my country’s companies with high-performance negative electrode glue production capabilities will gain more market share.