The future development direction of graphite industry

In recent years, with the development of emerging industries such as new energy vehicles and new electronic industries, the application fields of graphite have been further expanded, and the new development momentum of the graphite industry has been good.

Because of its special atomic crystal and molecular crystal mixed crystal structure, graphite has many excellent properties such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, high temperature resistance, lubricity and chemical stability. Graphite is widely used in carbon, metallurgy, electronics, chemical industry, national defense, aviation and other fields. With the deepening of research, new uses of graphite are also increasing. In the future, graphite may develop in these five directions.

01 Preparation of graphene

Graphene is a graphite product that has developed rapidly in recent years. According to statistics, the global graphene industry market size has reached 620 million US dollars in 2020, with an average annual growth of more than 10% compared with 2015. At present, six major industrial application fields like new energy, coatings, health, energy conservation and environmental protection, new chemical materials, and electronic information have been initially formed, of which the market size in the field of new energy accounts for more than 60%. It is predicted that the market size of graphene heat dissipation materials in electronic products will grow rapidly at a compound annual growth rate of 30-40%. By 2023, the market size will reach 3.28 billion yuan, benefiting from the continuous upgrading of 5G smart terminals in the future , the heat dissipation material market is expected to remain high.

02 Used as a negative electrode material for lithium ion batteries

The use of lithium-ion batteries in computers, communications, and consumer 3C electronics has grown rapidly in recent years. With the rapid growth of hybrid electric vehicles and pure electric vehicles in the global market, lithium-ion power batteries have also ushered in explosive growth. In general, the weight of graphite required to make a lithium-ion battery is 10 to 20 times that of lithium, each hybrid electric vehicle uses about 22kg graphite and an all-electric car using about 50kg graphite. This also makes the lithium-ion power battery industry the fastest growing area of graphite demand, which determines the growth rate of the global graphite market demand in the future. In addition, the demand for natural graphite for lithium-ion battery anode materials will gradually expand in the future.

03 Preparation of expanded graphite

Expanded graphite is a new type of functional carbon material. It is a loose and porous worm-like substance obtained from natural graphite through intercalation, water washing, drying and high temperature expansion. In addition to the cold and heat resistance, corrosion resistance and good lubricity of graphite itself, expanded graphite also has compression resilience, radiation resistance and adsorption that natural graphite does not have. Expanded graphite is an excellent adsorbent for water purification. Experts believe that expanded graphite has excellent adsorption properties for oil and macromolecular refractory COD, and has huge market prospects in oil spill emergency treatment and sewage treatment. It is expected that environmental protection materials based on expanded graphite will form a new industry of tens of billions of yuan.

04 Preparation of high-purity graphite

High-purity graphite means that the carbon content of graphite is > 99.99%. The quality of graphite purification determines the use characteristics and comprehensive performance of graphite materials. The higher the graphite purity, the higher the application value. With the deepening of research, the development of technology and the further improvement of product purity, the penetration rate of high-purity graphite into existing application fields is increasing, and new application fields are constantly being developed. Among them, industries such as new materials and batteries will play a major role in promoting the growth of high-purity graphite demand.

05 Industrialization of isotropic graphite

Isotropic graphite belongs to special graphite, which is an indispensable high-performance engineering material in the world today, and belongs to high-end carbon material products. In recent years, with the rise of China's solar cell industry and the development of semiconductor industry, electrical processing industry, non-ferrous metal processing industry, optical fiber and cable industry, heat treatment industry, chemical industry, nuclear power industry and other related industries, China's domestic demand for isotropic graphite is in short supply, coupled with the great profit temptation of isotropic graphite by global carbon enterprises, a new upsurge in the development of isotropic graphite is currently emerging in China.

Graphite resources are very precious and are internationally recognized as "strategic resources supporting the development of high-tech in the 21st century". In the future, the application of natural graphite will focus on the preparation of high-end graphite products such as graphene, battery electrode materials, expanded graphite, high-purity graphite, and isotropic graphite, which will be widely used in high-tech fields and become an important strategic resource supporting the development of high-tech.