Posco succeeds in developing NCMA cathode 

Posco Chemical has succeeded in developing NCMA cathode materials, the company said on Monday.

Client review has also been completed and the materials will begin to be massively produced soon at its factories at Gumi and Gwangyang, the company said.

NCMA, or nickel-cobalt-manganese-aluminum, adds aluminum to the previous NCM cathode material to maintain output and stability that is affected by lowered use of cobalt and manganese from the increase in nickel ratio to over 80%. 

It also reduces pricing of the materials, especially from lowered cobalt use. Cobalt is expensive and rare, while price fluctuates widely.

Posco said its new NCMA cathode material was made with over 80% nickel ratio and will increase battery capacities. 

It also applied its own artificial intelligence (AI)-based doping process to put in aluminum uniformly aligned within the physical structure of the materials. Surface coating has also been applied to increase stability and power output, the company added. 

The NCMA materials will be applied to 3rd-generation electric vehicles (EV) that can travel 500 kilometers to 600 kilometers with one charge. 

Kim Do-Hyung, managing director at Posco Chemical’s energy materials lab, aid the company will continue to develop materials beforehand to meet future demands.