Battery cathode materials
The positive electrode powders (LFP, NMC, NCA, LCO, LMFP) that set a lithium-ion cell's energy, cost and safety; China makes almost all of them.
Specialty chemicals · Energy-transition chemicals · No. 66
- Product family
- Feedstock: Minerals and salts
- about 4.95 Mt shipped worldwide in 2025, of which LFP 3.47 Mt (SNE Research). GGII's survey of Chinese producers gives 5.03 Mt for China alone, more than SNE's world total, so the two are not comparable; world totals here use SNE, and GGII is used only for the split between chemistries
- 10.0 t CO₂e per t
- HS 284190, 284290
Every lithium-ion cell's costliest ingredient is a powder, and today most of it is humble iron phosphate made in China.
Chart: Illustration: Battery cathode materials
Where it comes from
Chart: Map of where it comes from
Refined lithium, nickel, cobalt or iron phosphate is turned into a precursor, then fired with a lithium salt in kilns for 10-20 hours to make the black powder.
Three things to know
- LFP made up 3.47 Mt of the 4.95 Mt shipped in 2025, so iron and phosphate now outweigh nickel and cobalt in cathode volume.
- One Chinese company, Hunan Yuneng, shipped 1.14 Mt in 2025, roughly 23% of all the cathode powder made on Earth.
- India made no commercial cathode in 2025; Altmin's 10 kt a year LFP plant in Hyderabad is due to start in 2026.
The journey
- 1 Mined metalsLithium, nickel, cobalt, iron and phosphate
- 2 Battery saltsRefined into carbonate, hydroxide and sulphates
- 3 PrecursorMixed hydroxide or iron phosphate precipitated
- 4 Kiln firingBaked with lithium at about 700-900 C
- 5 Cathode powderMilled, coated and screened to tight specs
- 6 Cells and carsCoated on aluminium foil for EVs, storage