Zeon partners with SiAT to advance next-gen battery manufacturing

Japanese chemical firm Zeon and Sino Applied Technology (SiAT), a Taiwanese manufacturer of advanced nanomaterials for next-generation batteries, have announced the signing of a strategic partnership. 

As part of this collaboration, Zeon will lead a USD 20 million USD Series C fundraising round in SiAT to support the expansion of its production capacity for single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) conductive paste, a critical nanomaterial for next-generation battery technologies, according to a media release.

Mass production of SWCNT powder presents significant challenges due to the high-temperature chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, which requires precise control of catalysts and reaction conditions to achieve both high yield and high purity. Zeon is the first company globally to achieve mass production of SWCNTs in 2015. Utilizing its proprietary Super Growth technology, Zeon produces ZEONANO, SWCNT product characterized by high aspect ratio, high purity, and large surface area, the media release said.

Another key challenge in SWCNT adoption is dispersion. SWCNTs tend to bundle and exhibit poor dispersibility in both aqueous and non-aqueous media, complicating their uniform integration into electrode slurries during battery manufacturing. SiAT team, with over 20 years of expertise in battery nanomaterials, brings proprietary know-how to this partnership, enabling the even dispersion of SWCNTs into stable conductive paste product tailored for battery electrodes, the media release said.

“Since 2024, Zeon and SiAT have successfully collaborated to introduce well-dispersed SWCNT conductive pastes — LSC2102 (NMP-based) and LSC1101 (water-based),” the media release said. “These products have undergone rigorous evaluation by battery manufacturers, demonstrating that incorporating a very small amount of SWCNTs into lithium battery cathodes and anodes can enhance energy output and cycle life, which is particularly critical for silicon anodes and other high-capacity, high-rate performance applications.”

Zeon is the lead investor in SiAT’s USD 20 million Series C funding round, joined by other prominent Taiwanese venture partners. With this funding, SiAT aims to scale its annual conductive paste production capacity to 25,000 tons by 2030. Concurrently, Zeon will fulfill its role as the primary supplier to SiAT.