The production of vapor-grown carbon fiber (VGCF) is easy, and the lithium battery field is its main demand end.

Vapor-grown carbon fiber (VGCF) is a kind of ultra-fine carbon fiber, which refers to carbon fiber produced through pyrolysis and other processes under high temperature conditions. Vapor-grown carbon fiber has the advantages of corrosion resistance, oxidation resistance, good electrical conductivity, good thermal conductivity, and good mechanical properties. It has broad application prospects in the fields of batteries, aerospace, national defense, medical, and construction engineering.

In recent years, the country has attached great importance to the development of the carbon fiber industry and introduced many policies to support it. In September 2022, four departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for the “Three Products” of the Raw Material Industry”. The document clearly stated that the quality of carbon fiber and its composite materials should be improved. In this context, vapor-grown carbon fiber, as a carbon fiber segmented product, will accelerate the development of the industry.

Compared with other carbon fibers, vapor-grown carbon fibers are less difficult to produce and have lower production costs. The main preparation methods of vapor-phase grown carbon fiber include vapor-phase flow growth method, substrate growth method, liquid pulse injection method, etc. The vapor phase flow growth method refers to adding a catalyst in the presence of hydrocarbon gas and producing finished products through high-temperature pyrolysis. The substrate growth method is a traditional preparation method for vapor phase growth carbon fibers. It is made in an intermittent manner and has low production efficiency and poor quality of finished products. and other defects; the liquid pulse injection method has the advantages of simple preparation process and short time consumption, but it is prone to uneven particle size.

According to the “2023-2028 China Vapor Growth Carbon Fiber (VGCF) Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center 》 shows that in terms of application fields, the lithium battery field is the largest demand end for vapor-grown carbon fibers, which can be used to produce fibrous conductive agents. In recent years, benefiting from the rapid economic development and the improvement of people’s living standards, the development speed of my country’s new energy vehicle industry has been accelerating, driving the demand for lithium batteries to become increasingly strong. As a fibrous conductive agent for lithium batteries, vapor-grown carbon fiber has the advantages of corrosion resistance, anti-oxidation, and good conductivity, and is expected to gain broad market prospects in the future.

Major players in the global vapor-grown carbon fiber market include Japan’s Lion Co., Ltd. (LION), Japan’s Showa Denko Co., Ltd. (Showa Denko), the United States’ DowAksa Company, the United States’ Cabot Company (Cabot), Switzerland’s TIMCAL, etc. . The main manufacturers of vapor-grown carbon fiber in my country include Zhejiang Yamei Nanotechnology Co., Ltd., Henan Clayway Nanocarbon Materials Co., Ltd., Shanghai Zhaoyuan Industrial Co., Ltd., etc.

         Industry analysts said that vapor-grown carbon fiber has properties such as corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance, and is widely used in many fields. Benefiting from the accelerated development of the lithium battery industry, the market demand for vapor-grown carbon fiber as a fibrous conductive agent for lithium batteries is increasingly strong. It is expected that the development prospects of my country’s vapor-grown carbon fiber industry will continue to improve in the coming period.