The silica sol market is developing rapidly as the upstream and downstream sectors of the industrial chain continue to benefit

Silica sol is a dispersion of nano-sized silica particles in water or solvent. It looks like a colorless and transparent colloidal solution. It is odorless, non-toxic, has strong permeability, large adsorption, good adhesion and wear resistance. Strong, good dispersion, good thermal stability, high mechanical strength, stable chemical properties and other characteristics. According to different properties, silica sol can be divided into two categories: organic silica sol and inorganic silica sol; according to different particle sizes, it can be divided into large particle size silica sol (colloidal particle size greater than 20nm) and small particle size silica sol (colloidal particle size). Particle size less than 20nm) two categories.

At present, the domestic methods for preparing silica sol are mainly silica powder hydrolysis method and ion exchange method. Silica fume hydrolysis method refers to the method of preparing silica sol using industrial silica powder as raw material, through catalytic reaction, heating hydrolysis, impurity filtration and other links; ion exchange method refers to using water glass as raw material, through ion exchange reaction and colloidal particle growth reaction. Methods for preparing silica sol in processes such as ultrafiltration and concentration. Among them, the ion exchange method is currently the mainstream method for preparing silica sol in industry in my country.

Water glass is the main raw material for the industrial preparation of silica sol in my country. In recent years, its output has shown continued growth. In 2021, my country’s water glass output will be 5.093 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%. The sufficient supply of upstream raw materials provides favorable conditions for the development of my country’s silica sol industry.

At the same time, silica sol has a wide range of applications. With its unique advantages, it has been widely used in refractory materials, electronics, ceramics, batteries, coatings, papermaking, catalysts, thin shell precision casting and other fields. The expanding application fields of downstream industries have brought broad demand space for the development of the domestic silica sol market. Currently, my country’s silica sol industry shows good development prospects due to the continued development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains. According to the “China Silica Sol Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report 2023-2027” released by the Industrial Research Center, In 2021, the domestic silica sol market size has reached 1.68 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.2%.

Among them, in the chemical industry, one of the applications of silica sol is the CMP polishing slurry manufacturing scenario. CMP polishing fluid is mainly composed of oxidants, abrasive particles, activators and other parts, and silica sol is the main raw material for preparing abrasive particles. Benefiting from the rapid development of the semiconductor wafer manufacturing industry, my country’s CMP polishing slurry market continues to expand. In 2021, its domestic scale has reached 1.87 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.5%. At present, the semiconductor industry has become a pillar industry that directly affects the national economy. In the future, against the background of the rapid expansion of the domestic CMP polishing slurry market, the market demand for silica sol is expected to continue to grow.

Industrial analysis personnel said that the main domestic silica sol manufacturers include Baxter New Materials, Kehan ​​Silicon Products, Xinchuangna Electronics, There are many companies such as Wilte New Materials, Ford Chemical, Yiming New Materials, Yuda Chemical, Zhenghe Technology, Sanbang Silicon Materials, Yulon Chemical, Lianjie Silicon Materials, etc., and the market competition is fierce. At present, most of my country’s silica sol companies are still concentrated in the mid-to-low-end market, and production technology and product quality are difficult to meet the escalating market demand. In the future, local companies will need to continue to improve their technical levels and accelerate the research and development of high-end silica sol products. The industry has huge room for growth.