Recently, the solid-state battery market has once again heated up, and the industry's focus has undergone profound changes.

According to observations, compared to previous discussions on solid-state electrolyte technology routes, layouts of host factories and battery manufacturers, expected production schedules, and exploration of emerging applications such as eVTOL, the current market focus is more on several core aspects.

Specifically, the key material innovation represented by solid-state electrolyte membranes, the iteration of negative electrode materials with silicon carbon negative electrodes as the core, and the coordinated breakthroughs in production processes and equipment are the three core trends driving the industrialization process to a deeper level.

Trend 1: The innovation of electrolyte materials is accelerating, and the competition for solid-state electrolyte membranes is rising

As the "fifth main material" of solid-state batteries, the technological path of solid-state electrolyte membranes is undergoing adjustments.

In the early days, the industry had hoped that solid-state electrolytes could form self-supporting membranes in one step. However, this year's trend shows that pioneers in solid-state batteries such as Weilan and Tailan, as well as traditional membrane leaders such as Xingyuan Materials, have begun to emphasize technology solutions based on existing base membranes for solid-state electrolyte coating.

Li Hong, co-founder of Weilan New Energy and researcher of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently pointed out that the current mainstream solid-state battery production process is still difficult to completely separate from the base membrane.

Whether it is coating or in-situ curing the base film as a rigid skeleton, or coating the electrolyte on the base film and rolling it with the polarizer, pure non base film solutions face practical challenges in terms of production stability and application reliability.

The annual production capacity of 6GWh semi-solid energy storage battery production line put into operation by Guangdong Weilan in Zhuhai in March this year adopts solid electrolyte coated separators supplied by Jiangsu Sanhe (a joint venture company of Enjie Co., Ltd., Weilan New Energy, and Liyang Tianmu Pioneer), which confirms this trend.

At the same time, the concept of "no separator" proposed by Tailan New Energy points to the technical connotation of "electrode composite solid electrolyte layer", which directly composites the solid electrolyte of oxide and polymer on the surface of the electrode, which is also an exploratory direction that needs to be supported.

The diaphragm enterprise Xingyuan Materials is seeking to transform from a base film supplier to a solid electrolyte membrane solution provider through the "supporting base film+solid electrolyte composite" solution. Its cooperation with Dacao Chemical (polymer supply) and Zhongke Shenlan Huize (joint development of solid electrolyte membrane) is making substantial progress.

The use of a base film to support solid electrolytes is considered a more realistic path for industrialization, with a logic similar to wet process production of large cylindrical batteries, focusing more on cost control and feasibility of large-scale production.

It is reported that Japanese and Korean companies have achieved electrolyte membrane costs at least 30% lower than domestic ones in this field. The pressure on the industry, coupled with the determination of diaphragm companies to transform, may jointly constitute the necessity of promoting the base membrane route.

However, the development of self-supporting solid-state electrolyte membranes has not stagnated. In April, Zhongke Solid Energy announced a breakthrough in mass production of its sulfide solid electrolyte membrane (reportedly with sulfide content>95%).

Through the wet film-forming process and independent equipment modification, the company has prepared products in rolls (length>1000m), ultra-thin (15-25 μ m), large-area (width 400mm), and high ionic conductivity (3.82 mS/cm ⁻¹), demonstrating the potential of self-supporting routes.

Trend 2: The iteration of negative electrode materials is accelerating, and silicon carbon is welcomed by capital

At the beginning of this year, Ouyang Minggao, an academician of the CAS Member and a professor of Tsinghua University, agreed to set the tone for solid state batteries: by 2030, the industry will focus on battery technology breakthroughs below 500Wh/kg, and the iteration of anode materials, especially the application of silicon carbon anode, will become the core strategy.

On this basis, driven by the bright prospects of mass production of power cylindrical batteries promoted by Tesla and BMW, the industrialization of silicon-based negative electrodes has shown explosive growth this year, with significant synergy between materials, processes, and equipment.
According to incomplete statistics from Gaogong Lithium Battery, in the first five months of this year alone, the planned new production capacity of silicon carbon negative electrodes has exceeded 220000 tons, driving investment in related industries of over 20 billion yuan.

Among them, Xinyuan Technology's planned annual production of 100000 tons of silicon carbon negative electrode materials project in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, with a total investment of up to 12 billion yuan and leading production capacity, has become the largest investment in this round of expansion.

The first phase of the 40000 ton integrated silicon-based negative electrode base of Shanshan Technology in Ningbo has been put into operation, becoming one of the earliest effective production capacities of silicon carbon negative electrodes in the industry. Its two products, high-capacity, high first effect silicon carbon negative electrode and high-performance pressure resistant silicon carbon, have started trial production in early 2025. The former has successfully been introduced into top power battery companies and has taken the lead in consumer electronics evaluations.

Zhongning Silicon Industry, a subsidiary of Duofuduo, has also started construction on a 40000 ton per year project (with an investment of over 5 billion yuan) planned in Quzhou, Zhejiang.

In addition, start-ups in the field of silicon carbon anodes have also been making frequent moves. For example, Lanxi Zhide announced the addition of an annual production capacity of 1000 tons of silicon carbon anodes in Jinhua, Zhejiang, and Solide has planned to add an annual production capacity of 10000 tons in Yongzhou, Hunan.

The production capacity and financing of porous carbon materials matched with silicon carbon negative electrodes have also increased simultaneously. Six new projects have been added, and it is particularly evident that the layout of listed companies in this field is particularly intense
Shengquan Group has newly put into operation a 1000 ton porous carbon production line this year; Jinbo Corporation stated that its petroleum coke based porous carbon series products have completed pilot development within 2024 and are currently in the downstream customer verification stage. New products will be launched in the near future.

It is worth noting that Ningde New Energy has strategically invested in Shandong Fuyuan, a porous carbon enterprise incubated by the team of Academician Zhao Dongyuan from Fudan University.

On the equipment side, Suzhou Newmut, which focuses on fluidized bed vapor deposition equipment, completed an A+round financing of over 100 million yuan in April, which will be used for the research and development and expansion of the country's first large-scale fluidized bed equipment. All of the above demonstrate the close resonance of material driven processes and equipment.

Trend 3: Deepening collaborative innovation of process equipment, attention paid to the integration of dry electrode and production line

The overall progress of solid-state battery production equipment has been particularly prominent this year, with dry electrode process equipment becoming the focus of industry attention. The core of this trend lies in the deep collaboration between process innovation and equipment development, as well as the urgent need for efficient, integrated, and automated production line solutions.

In terms of core dry process equipment, multiple enterprises have made significant breakthroughs and gained market recognition.

For example, the solid-state battery equipment of Pioneer Intelligence has received duplicate orders; Multiple dry process core equipment from Manest and dry mixing equipment from Winhe Technology have been successfully delivered or ordered; Nakonor's dry rolling equipment has also achieved customer breakthroughs.

These developments indicate that the key process equipment for dry electrodes is gradually maturing and entering the commercial application stage.

The integration of equipment and the ability to deliver the entire line are also becoming important indicators for measuring the strength of enterprises.

On the one hand, there is an increasing demand in the market for whole line equipment suppliers that can provide comprehensive solutions. Liyuanheng has successfully won the bid for the whole line order of GAC Aion's sulfide solid-state battery project, and Haimuxing has also signed a 400 million yuan solid-state battery equipment order with Xinjie Energy, confirming this trend.

On the other hand, the equipment itself is also developing towards integration. The dry process new products recently released by companies such as Shangshui Intelligence and Guanhong Intelligence reflect the trend of integrating multiple processes such as mixing, fibrosis, film making, roll cutting, and winding.

Collaborative innovation is an important mode to promote technological progress in equipment. The cooperation between enterprises and research institutions is becoming increasingly close.

For example, Nakonor and Academician Ouyang Minggao jointly established a solid-state battery joint laboratory at the workstation, focusing on process basic research and equipment development; Yifei Laser and Jinyu New Energy have reached a strategic cooperation to jointly develop and optimize equipment and processes for specific solid-state battery types such as full pole ears and square aluminum shells.

The first fully automatic production line of 0.1GWh dry electrode in China by Qingyan Electronics was put into operation in April, which is a landmark achievement of the above trend. This production line has achieved fully automated production from raw material transportation to electrode forming, which is a concrete manifestation of the breakthrough of dry electrode technology from single machine to production line integration.

In order to continuously overcome the two core links of mixing and film formation in the dry electrode process and build technical barriers, Qingyan Electronics continues to jointly develop core integrated equipment such as mixing homogenization integrated machines and film formation composite integrated machines through the establishment of joint ventures with two leading lithium battery segmentation equipment companies, Honggong Technology and Nakonor, fully demonstrating the importance of collaborative innovation between the new and old industrial chains and achieving breakthroughs in key processes.

Overall, the continuous iteration of material systems and the collaborative innovation of equipment processes are continuously deepening, injecting strong momentum and optimistic expectations into the future of the solid-state battery industry.