Partnership Between The World’s Largest Niobium Producer CBMM And Canadian Multinational Nano One Foresees New Investments In Lithium-Ion Batteries

Without Adding Process Steps or Costs, The New Niobium Technology Significantly Increases The Durability Of Materials In Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Aiming at the electric vehicle market, the Brazilian company CBMM, a leader in the production and commercialization of niobium products, and the Canadian multinational Nano One Materials Corporation, announced in February the successful completion of the first phase of the agreement for the development of an advanced niobium oxide coating for batteries.

Also Read

• After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United States worked with 30 other countries to release 60 million barrels of oil from reserves worldwide to curb prices and stabilize the international market
• WEG, one of the largest manufacturers of turbines and electric motors in the world, develops a line of niobium-based coatings resistant to corrosive agents in partnership with Randon Companies
• CBMM is looking for solutions in the United Arab Emirates for the company’s revolutionary graphene projects around the world
• Industrial expansion of the Brazilian multinational CBMM, the world’s largest producer of niobium, inaugurated last Thursday (04/11), will increase niobium production to 150 thousand tons per year and generate many jobs

Nano One is a clean technology company that has a patented low-carbon emission process for producing high-performance cathode materials used in lithium-ion batteries (known as the One-Pot Process).

According to Nano One’s CTO, Stephen Campbell, “the use of niobium technology to form a protective coating on the active material of our NMC cathode (lithium batteries with manganese-cobalt oxide), designed to increase its durability, has shown great success. The completion of this first phase strengthens the relationship between CBMM and Nano One while proving the flexibility of the patented One-Pot process.”

CBMM And Nano One Are Developing An Integrated And Differentiated Supply Chain For Niobium-Coated Monocrystalline Cathode Materials.

In this first phase, the niobium coating technology was applied to the active material of the cathode called NMC811. The next two phases will focus on niobium coating on even higher nickel NMC cathodes. This includes scaling this One-Pot coating technology to demonstrate its commercial viability and consolidate its supply chain.

Together, Nano One and CBMM are developing an integrated and differentiated supply chain for niobium-coated monocrystalline cathode materials.

The One-Pot process, patented by Nano One, makes it economically viable to coat each nanocrystal with niobium in order to protect the cathode from harmful reactions that can cause rapid performance degradation.

Without adding process steps or costs, the new technology allows for a significant increase in the durability of materials in lithium-ion batteries. Niobium-coated single crystal cathode materials are applicable to both conventional liquid cells and advanced solid-state electrolytic cells.

Results From This First Phase Demonstrate An Innovative Process In The Production Of Enhanced Niobium Materials For High-Energy Batteries

According to Dan Blondal, CEO of Nano One, “CBMM is a global leader in niobium products, and by completing this stage, we take one more step toward our commercialization goals and supply chain development. Successful collaborations like this help us add strategic value for other partners as we move toward the adoption and commercial application of our technologies.”

Rogério Marques Ribas, Product Manager for Batteries at CBMM, states, “the results of this first phase demonstrate the feasibility of Nano One’s innovative process in the production of enhanced niobium materials for high-energy batteries. We are eager to advance further, both in this collaborative project and in its valuable results.”