ChemWhat English

1. Why Batteries Seem to “Wear Out” Why does a phone feel less durable after two or three years? Why does an electric vehicle’s range slowly shrink? Behind both lies a cause that few people know about: the active lithium that “carries” a battery’s charge is gradually consumed. A lithium-ion battery works by shuttling lithium ions back and forth between the positive and negative electrodes. These shuttling ions are called active lithium, and almost all of it is initially stored in the cathode material. Every bit of active lithium lost means a bit less battery capacity. During the first charge, a protective film, called the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), forms on the surface of the anode and permanently “swallows” part of the lithium supplied by the cathode. It is like opening a new account and being charged a fee before you have used it, and a little more lithium continues to be lost with every subsequent cycle. 2. Prelithiation: Paying the “Fee” in Advance Prel...

Lithium squarate (Li₂C₄O₄) is a new cathode prelithiation additive that releases active lithium during the first charge to offset losses. It leaves only about 19% residue by weight, is a neutral salt that does not react with water or air, and can be added directly during cathode slurry mixing with no changes to the production line. Under ChemWhat brand authorization, Watson is producing high-purity lithium squarate (Li₂C₄O₄) raw material in volume for partners worldwide, and is extending the same approach to develop sodium squarate (Na₂C₄O₄) for sodium batteries.

From late 2025 to early 2026, surging silver prices placed unprecedented cost pressure on the photovoltaic and electronics manufacturing industries, bringing silver-coated copper powders back into the spotlight as a composite material that balances conductivity and cost efficiency. For heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, where silver paste accounts for a significant share of production costs, reducing silver consumption has become a key factor in competitiveness. In conductive adhesives, inks, electromagnetic shielding, and electronic components, the need to control precious-metal costs while maintaining electrical performance and long-term reliability is also driving the development of alternative materials. The value of silver-coated copper powders lie not simply in replacing silver with copper, but in engineering a material structure that balances conductivity, oxidation resistance, and cost. Also known as silver-plated copper powders, these materials feature a core-shell structure in...

Rising Silver Prices Drive Materials Innovation From late 2025 to early 2026, surging silver prices placed unprecedented cost pressure on the photovoltaic and electronics manufacturing industries, bringing silver-coated copper (Ag@Cu) powders into the spotlight as a composite material that balances conductivity and cost efficiency. For heterojunction (HJT) solar cells, where silver paste accounts for a significant share of production costs, reducing silver consumption has become a key factor in competitiveness. In conductive adhesives, inks, electromagnetic shielding, and electronic components, the need to control precious-metal costs while maintaining electrical performance and long-term reliability is also driving the development of alternative materials. Ag@Cu Powders: Balancing Conductivity, Stability, and Cost The value of Ag@Cu powders lies not simply in replacing silver with copper, but in engineering a material structure that balances conductivity, oxidation res...

Prologue: A Materials Revolution Forced by the Silver Price Between late 2025 and early 2026, silver went through an extreme price cycle — spot prices broke through $80 per ounce, and on some trading days even touched above $90, more than double the roughly $40 range seen back in 2023. For most industries, this was just a headline in the financial press. But for photovoltaics, electric vehicles, advanced semiconductor packaging, and electronic conductive materials — several of today’s fastest-growing sectors — it was a genuine cost earthquake. The solar industry has felt it most acutely. Silver paste once accounted for only around 5% of module cost; after the price surge it climbed toward 14%, and by some accounting silver paste alone made up as much as 30% of HJT (heterojunction) cell production cost. When the single most critical raw material in an industry doubles or multiples in price within little more than a year, “reducing silver consumption and finding substi...

In fields such as hydrogels, GelMA, and 3D bioprinting—where materials must cure while simultaneously protecting living cells—choosing a photoinitiator is never a single-criterion decision. It must be efficient, safe, water-soluble, formulation-friendly, and proven at scale, and few molecules satisfy all of these conditions at once. LAP (ChemWhat Code 1208803) is one of the rare answers that genuinely holds up at this intersection. Its value lies not in any single “best-in-class” parameter, but in simultaneously meeting multiple demanding requirements—precisely what sets it apart from TPO, Irgacure 819, Irgacure 2959, Eosin-Y, and other photoinitiators. A Wavelength Window Defined by Biology, Not Convenience LAP’s absorption peak sits around 365 nm and extends into the 405 nm visible range, allowing it to be efficiently activated by conventional UV sources while also remaining compatible with the 405 nm LED light engines now common in bioprinting equipment—...

In fields such as hydrogels, GelMA, and 3D bioprinting—where materials must cure while simultaneously protecting living cells—choosing a photoinitiator is never a single-criterion decision. It must be efficient, safe, water-soluble, formulation-friendly, and proven at scale, and few molecules satisfy all of these conditions at once. LAP (ChemWhat Code 1208803) is one of the rare answers that genuinely holds up at this intersection. Its value lies not in any single “best-in-class” parameter, but in simultaneously meeting multiple demanding requirements—precisely what sets it apart from TPO, Irgacure 819, Irgacure 2959, Eosin-Y, and other photoinitiators. LAP’s absorption peak sits around 365 nm and extends into the 405 nm visible range, allowing it to be efficiently activated by conventional UV sources while also remaining compatible with the 405 nm LED light engines now common in bioprinting equipment—giving it far greater flexibility than initiators locked to a single...

Power chips in EVs, RF chips in 5G base stations, and power devices in solar inverters all face the same problem: as power density climbs and components shrink, what bonds a chip to its metal substrate has to conduct current, pull heat away fast, and survive years of thermal cycling between -40°C and 200°C without cracking — this is the packaging-materials challenge ChemWhat focuses on. Traditional gold-tin solder and tin paste have limited thermal conductivity and demanding process temperatures, and with GaN and SiC chips they often can’t dissipate heat fast enough, causing throttling, burnout, or interface cracking under repeated thermal cycling. ChemWhat’s answer is a family of differently formulated conductive adhesives, silver pastes, and copper pastes matched to each application: a single-component epoxy silver adhesive for low-to-medium-power LEDs and consumer ICs, low-cure and warp-free; a modified-polyurethane LCM adhesive for displays, with minimal bleed-through an...

I. Power Semiconductor Upgrades Drive Encapsulation Material Innovation With the rapid adoption of third-generation semiconductors (SiC, GaN), high-power IGBT modules, and automotive-grade power devices, operating current densities and junction temperatures of chips are continuously rising. Traditional tin-based solders (e.g., AuSn, SAC) are increasingly reaching their limits in terms of thermal conductivity, high-temperature reliability, and resistance to thermal fatigue. The industry broadly recognizes that: High-Voltage, High-Frequency, and High-Power Density Applications: (e.g., photovoltaic inverters, rail transit, smart grids, and new energy vehicle driving/charging systems) impose more stringent requirements for the thermal conductivity and junction temperature control of encapsulation materials. High Aspect Ratio Chips: (e.g., GaN RF devices with aspect ratios up to 5:1 or 6:1) are prone to new issues such as stress concentration and sintering delamination under ...