Carbon Black’s EV Applications
Power Batteries: Dual Cores of Conductivity and Structural Reinforcement
In lithium-ion battery systems, carbon black has become an irreplaceable functional material, with applications across the three core components of the positive electrode, negative electrode, and electrolyte:
Building a Negative Electrode Conductive Network: Modified carbon black improves the electron conduction efficiency of graphite materials, reducing the charge transfer resistance of lithium battery negative electrodes by over 40%.
Data from 2025 shows that in high-end power batteries, carbon black additions accounting for 5%-8% of the negative electrode material can improve battery charge and discharge efficiency by 12% and increase capacity retention to 75% at -20°C. Doublestar Group's high-purity pyrolysis carbon black, produced through microwave catalysis technology and surface-coated, has achieved large-scale application in this application.
Optimizing Positive Electrode Performance: In the positive electrode slurry of ternary lithium-ion batteries, conductive carbon black forms a continuous conductive path, increasing the utilization rate of active materials such as lithium cobalt oxide and lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide to 98%.
Shandong Neste's NC1107 multiphase carbon black, developed through silicon-boron composite modification technology, further addresses the polarization issue of cathode materials during high-rate charge and discharge.
Improved electrolyte stability: The porous structure of carbon black absorbs trace amounts of water and impurity ions in the electrolyte, slowing the rate of battery capacity decay and extending the cycle life of power batteries to over 3,000 cycles, a 50% increase compared to batteries without carbon black.
Hydrogen Fuel Cells: A Key Component of the Gas Diffusion Layer
As the powerhouse of hydrogen-powered vehicles, the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) places extremely high demands on the performance of carbon black:
Microporous Layer Function: The microporous layer of the GDL, composed of a composite of carbon black and a hydrophobic agent, is only 10-100μm thick and guides the reactant gases evenly to the catalyst layer, while also discharging generated water to prevent flooding.
Among mainstream technologies expected in 2025, the use of mesoporous modified carbon black will improve the layer's air permeability by 30%, enabling stable operation at a high current density of 1.1 A/cm². Conventional carbon black materials experience performance degradation at 0.9 A/cm².
Catalytic Layer Support: Carbon black's high surface area provides attachment sites for platinum-based catalysts. Nitrogen doping and modification can reduce the "poisoning" of the sulfonic acid groups in the ion-exchange membrane, increasing catalyst utilization from the traditional 35%-50% to over 70%, significantly reducing precious metal usage and costs in hydrogen fuel cells.
Tire System: A Balancing Force Between Green and High Performance
New energy vehicles' demand for low rolling resistance and high wear resistance in tires is driving technological upgrades in carbon black tire formulations.
Green Tire Tread Compound: A composite system of carbon black with controlled particle size (15-300 nm) and silica can reduce tire rolling resistance by 18.3% while improving wear resistance by 40%.
Shandong Neste's NC1107 multiphase carbon black, with its carbon-silicon/carbon-boron dual-phase structure, achieves synergistic optimization of rolling resistance and durability. It is being used by companies such as Huasheng Rubber in original equipment tires for high-end new energy vehicles.
Sidewall and innerliner reinforcement: The three-dimensional network structure of fumed carbon black enhances the tire sidewall's flex fatigue resistance, reducing the risk of sidewall cracking by 60%. When used in conjunction with talc in the innerliner, it can also improve tire airtightness by 50%, reducing the hidden loss of range in new energy vehicles.
Electronic and Electrical: Electromagnetic Shielding and Insulation Protection
New energy vehicles' intelligent driving and high-voltage circuit systems have stringent electromagnetic compatibility requirements, and carbon black's application in this area is rapidly expanding:
Electromagnetic shielding materials: Adding 15%-20% conductive carbon black to the coating of components such as battery pack casings and onboard controllers creates a continuous conductive network with an electromagnetic shielding effectiveness exceeding 30dB in the 100MHz-1GHz frequency band, effectively preventing control system malfunctions caused by electromagnetic interference.
High-voltage cable reinforcement: In the insulation layer of electric vehicle high-voltage cables, carbon black can improve the material's aging resistance by controlling its dispersion, extending the cable's service life to over 10 years at temperatures of 120°C. It also enhances oil resistance and mechanical strength.
Body Structure: Lightweighting and Corrosion Protection
The functional applications of carbon black in non-metallic vehicle body parts are gradually expanding:
Plastic Part Modification: In polypropylene components such as bumpers and battery pack frames, adding carbon black can increase the material's impact strength by 25% while also imparting UV shielding properties, preventing aging and cracking caused by long-term exposure to sunlight.
Anti-Corrosion Coating Filler: In vehicle chassis anti-corrosion coatings, the flaky structure of carbon black extends the penetration path of corrosive media, increasing the coating's salt spray resistance from 500 hours to over 1,000 hours, meeting the longer vehicle lifecycle requirements of new energy vehicles.
