Showa Denko expands titanium oxide nanoparticles capacity

Japan’s Showa Denko has announced the completion of capacity expansion of TITANIUM oxide nanoparticle, which has been sold under the trade name of Super-Titania, at its wholly owned subsidiary Showa Denko Ceramics Co. Ltd. The product is used in the manufacture of multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs).

Among varieties of capacitors, MLCCs are installed especially in many information devices including smartphones and feature-phones which require downsizing and weight saving, and in digital home appliances including flat-screen TVs. According to Show Denko, the market for MLCCs has been growing 10% a year, and facilities of MLCC manufacturers have been operating at full capacity due to the increase in demand for these electronic devices. With the addition of a new production line at Showa Denko Ceramics’s Toyama (Japan) plant, the capacity of the Showa Denko Group to produce Super-Titania will increase by 30% from January 2019.

Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) made from TITANIUM OXIDE (TiO2) is used as a dielectric which composes a part of basic structure of MLCC. In addition, downsizing and increase in electrical capacitance of MLCC requires high-purity nanoparticle barium titanate. There are two methods to synthesise barium titanate, namely, solid-phase and liquid-phase. Synthesis of barium titanate with solid-phase method, which can produce barium titanate with high dielectric property at relatively lower costs, requires ultrafine-particle titanium oxide. According to Showa Denko, its Super-Titania has particle diameter of 15 to 250 nanometre and high purity, thus contributing to manufacture of smaller MLCCs with higher electrical capacitance.

Super-Titania can be used not only as raw material for manufacturing of MLCCs but also as an ingredient of various filling materials and for other services, the company informed.