Critical Minerals and Components for Batteries

Batteries have become the swing factor in several critical mineral markets. Lithium-ion cells power electric vehicles, phones and laptops, and increasingly the grid-scale storage systems that balance wind and solar power and keep data centres running. Each cell is a stack of mineral-intensive layers: a cathode of lithium with nickel, manganese and cobalt or with iron phosphate, an anode of graphite, sometimes blended with silicon, current collectors of aluminum and copper, and an electrolyte built on fluorine chemistry.

Beyond lithium-ion, the battery world is broader than it looks. Lead-acid batteries, hardened with antimony, still start most cars and back up telecoms networks and data centres. Vanadium flow batteries store power for long periods, nickel-metal hydride cells built on lanthanum and cerium still run in hybrids, while sodium-ion and other emerging chemistries aim to reduce reliance on the scarcest materials.

Stockatomics maps 26 critical minerals to batteries, across every chemistry from the cathode to the casing.

Every battery chemistry is a different recipe of critical minerals, and the shift between them can reshape whole markets.

Cathodes

The cathode stores lithium and sets most of a battery's performance and cost. Nickel-manganese-cobalt cathodes use lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt, lithium iron phosphate uses lithium with iron and phosphate, and newer lithium manganese iron phosphate adds manganese for more energy.

Anodes

Graphite, natural or synthetic, is the anode material in almost every lithium-ion cell. Silicon is being blended in to store more lithium, while lithium titanate, made with titanium, and niobium-titanium oxide anodes trade energy for very fast charging and long life.

Electrolyte, binders and foils

The electrolyte salt and the binder that holds electrodes together are both fluorine chemicals derived from fluorspar. Current collectors are foils of aluminum on the cathode side and copper on the anode side.

Other chemistries

Lead-acid batteries use lead, hardened with antimony. Vanadium flow batteries store energy in vanadium electrolyte, nickel-metal hydride batteries rely on nickel with lanthanum and cerium, and zinc-based batteries use zinc.

Battery supply chains are the most China-centred of any clean energy technology. China refines most of the world's lithium, cobalt and graphite, produces most cathode and anode materials, and makes most battery cells. Raw materials are also concentrated: Australia and South America for lithium, the Democratic Republic of Congo for cobalt, Indonesia for nickel.

China has placed graphite under export permits and has moved to control exports of some battery technologies, while the US and EU have introduced tariffs, sourcing rules and subsidies designed to build supply chains elsewhere.

What that means for battery makers

• Cell makers outside China are securing long-term offtake from mines and refiners in allied countries
• Chemistries that avoid nickel and cobalt, and newer sodium-ion designs, reduce exposure to the scarcest minerals
• Recycling is becoming a strategic source of lithium, nickel and cobalt

As of October 2026, batteries are growing fastest in energy storage, where grid operators and data centres want backup and balancing power, as well as in electric vehicles. Prices for cells have fallen sharply, helped by cheaper lithium and Chinese manufacturing scale.

What to watch

• Lithium iron phosphate dominance: cheaper, longer-lasting cells are winning in storage and many vehicles
• Sodium-ion: the first commercial sodium-ion cells could reduce lithium demand at the low end of the market
• Silicon anodes: blending silicon into graphite anodes raises energy density
• Supply chain rules: US and European restrictions on Chinese batteries and materials are reshaping where cells are made
• Recycling: battery recycling is becoming a significant source of lithium, nickel, cobalt and copper