Rare earth hydrogen storage materials are widely used and the market size continues to expand

Rare earth hydrogen storage materials refer to functional materials and energy materials that add certain metals to rare earth metals to form alloys and have the characteristics of absorbing and releasing a large amount of hydrogen under certain temperature conditions, excellent reversibility, and fast response. Rare earth hydrogen storage materials have the advantages of high-power charge and discharge, high capacity, and long cycle life. They are widely used in petrochemical, medical, new energy vehicles and other fields.

According to the “2022-2027 China Rare Earth Hydrogen Storage Materials Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center It shows that the raw materials of rare earth hydrogen storage materials are rare earth metals and nickel, and nickel accounts for nearly 60.0% of the production cost of rare earth hydrogen storage materials. In recent years, my country’s nickel industry as a whole has shown a booming supply and demand pattern. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country’s primary nickel production reached 669,000 tons in 2021. Affected by factors such as strong market demand, my country’s nickel prices continue to rise, resulting in an increase in the production cost of rare earth hydrogen storage materials. Against this background, my country’s output of rare earth hydrogen storage materials has been on a downward trend for a long time, and it will not gradually pick up until 2020. According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, my country’s output of rare earth hydrogen storage materials will reach 11,000 tons in 2021, a year-on-year increase of 16.7%.

Rare earth hydrogen storage materials are mainly divided into two categories: LaNi5 type hydrogen storage alloy (AB5 type) and La-Mg-Ni hydrogen storage alloy (AB3 type and A2B7 type). AB5 type hydrogen storage alloy refers to an intermetallic compound with a CaCu5 type crystal structure composed of rare earth elements and transition metal elements in an atomic ratio of 1:5. At present, my country’s AB5 hydrogen storage alloy has achieved industrial development and occupies a major share of the rare earth hydrogen storage material market. A2B7 hydrogen storage alloy is a rare earth hydrogen storage material with high phase abundance and has been industrialized in Japan.

my country’s rare earth hydrogen storage materials are mainly used in the field of new energy vehicles. Driven by national policy support and technological innovation, my country’s new energy vehicle production continues to increase. As the mainstream route for new energy vehicle battery selection, nickel-metal hydride batteries have the advantages of long cycle life and no pollution. Rare earth hydrogen storage materials are the main raw materials for nickel-metal hydride batteries. Driven by application demand, as the only hydrogen storage material that has achieved large-scale commercialization, the market space for rare earth hydrogen storage materials in my country continues to expand. In 2021, the market size of my country’s rare earth hydrogen storage materials will reach 730 million yuan.

At present, the production capacity of rare earth hydrogen storage materials is concentrated in my country and Japan, and Chinese companies occupy the main share of the global rare earth hydrogen storage materials market. Sihuida Bowen Industrial Co., Ltd. and Xiamen Tungsten Industry Co., Ltd. each have an annual production capacity of rare earth hydrogen storage materials exceeding 4,000.0 tons, making them leading enterprises in my country.

Industry analysts said that as strategic materials in the field of green energy in the 21st century, rare earth hydrogen storage materials have a wide range of applications. Once released, the scale of the industry will further expand. my country is the world’s largest producer of rare earth hydrogen storage materials. Driven by the technological innovation of leading companies, my country’s production capacity of rare earth hydrogen storage materials will further expand.