Hitachi Chemical Co and Silatronix have entered into a licensing agreement concerning the manufacturing, sales and use of Silatronix’s patented organosilicon compounds for use as electrolyte materials. By combining electrolyte using Silatronix’s organosilicon compounds as an additive with Hitachi Chemical’s anode materials for lithium ion batteries, it will become possible to lengthen the life of batteries and improve the storage stability of batteries at higher temperatures. Hitachi Chemical will continue to evaluate the performances and other aspects of batteries to consider the commercialization of the additive for electrolyte materials.

The lithium ion battery market is expected to expand further as its use in automobiles increases against the backdrop of such social trends as tighter ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) regulations in the state of California, USA and stricter CO₂ emission regulations in Europe. The world market for lithium ion batteries (for use in automobiles) in 2025 is expected to become more than five times what it was in 2016 (approximately 40 GWh <gigawatt hours>).

In the aim of expanding our lineup of lithium ion battery materials, in 2016, Hitachi Chemical started conducting performance evaluations of batteries that combine electrolyte using Silatronix’s organosilicon compounds as an additive and Hitachi Chemical’ anode materials for lithium ion batteries and discovered that the combination had the effect of maintaining the high energy density necessary for lithium ion batteries while lengthening the life of the batteries and improving their storage stability at higher temperatures.

Hitachi Chemical will use the signing of the license agreement as an opportunity to further evaluate the performance and other aspects of batteries that combine electrolyte using Silatronix’s organosilicon compounds as an additive and our anode materials for lithium ion batteries in order to consider the commercialization of the additive for electrolyte materials and other possibilities for the expansion of our lithium ion battery materials business.