Aekyung Chemical said on Wednesday that it successfully developed and produced high-performance hard carbon, a key material for the anode of sodium-ion batteries (SIB), on April 30th, 2024. After producing a prototype at its manufacturing facilities, the company is now gearing up for mass production.

The newly developed hard carbon boasts a discharge capacity of 300 mAh/g with an efficiency exceeding 90 percent, making it one of the world’s highest performing materials, according to Aekyung Chemical. This achievement follows years of research since the company’s pioneering development of hard carbon for secondary battery anodes in 2012, and it set up a specialized research organization solely focused on developing high-performance hard carbon for SIB in 2022.

SIB is known to be more economical and environmentally friendly than the current mainstream lithium-ion batteries in the battery market, with Aekyung Chemical forecasting that the global SIB market will grow to over $500 million by 2027.

By Jung Sang-bong and Minu Kim

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