(Yicai) Jan. 23 -- Shares of Enpack Packaging rose after the Chinese manufacturer of drinks cans said it plans to establish joint research and development laboratories in China with South Korean battery giant LG Chem to accelerate the layout of its innovative lithium battery materials business.

Enpack Packaging [SHE: 002846] was trading up 3.3 percent at CNY17.82 (USD2.55) as of lunch break in Shenzhen today, after earlier gaining as much as 6.4 percent.

Envision Packaging’s lithium battery material business subsidiary Yinglian Composite Current Collector signed a deal with LG Chem’s research and development branch in China to set up joint R&D labs to develop next-generation composite current collectors for lithium batteries and their dedicated polymer film materials, the Guangdong province-based parent firm announced yesterday.

The labs will be located at Yinglian’s factory in Gaoyou and LG Chem’s R&D base in Wuxi. Both Gaoyou and Wuxi are in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, about 200 kilometers apart.

The labs will rely on LG Chem’s technological advantages in the field of polymer film materials and Yinglian’s leading production technology and manufacturing capabilities in composite current collector products to jointly advance the research, development, and large-scale application of new high-performance composite current collector products, Enpack Packaging noted.

Current collectors are the key conductive framework connecting the active materials of battery electrodes with external circuits. They directly impact various performance indicators and the safety and stability of batteries.

Traditional lithium battery current collectors consist of copper foil for the anode and aluminum foil for the cathode, while composite current collectors adopt a sandwich structure, with a polymer base film squeezed between two ultra-thin metal conductive layers. Compared with traditional ones, composite current collectors can greatly improve the safety and energy density of lithium batteries, reduce their weight, and lower production costs.

Enpack Packaging entered the lithium battery composite current collector business in 2023 by investing in the construction of a plant in Gaoyou, operated by its subsidiary Yinglian. The plant, with an annual capacity of 100 million square meters of composite aluminum foil and 500 million sqm of composite copper foil, was completed and put into operation some production lines last year.

Composite aluminum foil and composite copper foil products from Yinglian’s Gaoyou factory have undergone testing and customer feedback collection by downstream battery clients, including power battery, consumer battery, and energy storage battery companies, Enpack Packing said, adding that the subsidiary has also initiated in-depth cooperation with some leading customers.

Editor: Futura Costaglione