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Barium titanate is used in a range of important electronic applications, which could make it an important mineral for increasingly high-tech defence requirements.
The UK government is committed to increasing its defence spending amid pressure for European NATO countries to do so collectively and the perceived threat of Russia and potentially other powers to the UK.
However, whereas in the past the whole focus would be on recruiting and equipping troops and adding more planes, ships and tanks, remote warfare in the form of drones has become an increasingly important aspect of modern battlefield engagement.
This area of technology was highlighted when Britain’s new prime minister Andy Burnham welcomed Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky as his first overseas visitor:
Drones and additional technology such as the electronics contained in the Stone Cloak system highlight the increased reliance on sophisticated technology, even though the Ukraine war continues to take a huge human toll on ground troops.
The widespread use of barium titanate in electronics makes it likely that it will be important in the development of high-tech drone weapons systems and the means of supporting them, such as Stone Cloak.
Such systems may not just be used in drones, but also in guided missiles and potentially in devices designed to aid in cyber warfare.
Of course, the exact mechanisms will remain secret, but increasingly sophisticated weapons systems and the technology behind them are becoming ever more reliant on rare earths and specific chemicals and minerals with particular properties.
Barium titanate may be added to this list, increasing demand from the defence sector, not least in the UK if Britain decides it is better to produce these systems domestically and not rely on purchases from the United States, given the weakening of alliance ties.
Indeed, the defence co-operation between the UK and Ukraine could extend to the development of a large drone factory in the UK, which has been proposed by Mr Zelensky.
The year 2026 has inadvertently become the year of the electric car, which is a boon for manufacturers, toll processors, suppliers of raw materials and dealers alike.
Thanks partly due to a global energy crisis, partly due to the rise of renewables and partly due to the success of cars such as the Renault 5 EV, electric cars are having a moment, which makes it worth reflecting on the first time EVs sold in significant quantities.
Long before the Tesla Model 3 or even the Nissan Leaf, there was an early EV company whose success very nearly changed the world of motoring.
The Detroit Electric was a car by the Anderson Electric Car Company that sold 13,000 units, a remarkable amount for an electric car following the release of the Ford Model T.
For context, this was the highest-selling EV up until the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, which more than doubled its sales but was quickly dwarfed by sales of the Nissan Leaf, the first modern EV to sell in significant quantities.
The Detroit Electric was first sold in 1907 and would remain on the market for 22 years, one of the longest manufacturing runs of any EV, and indicative of the crossroads the American motoring landscape was at.
Advertised as having a range of 80 miles, one test showed that a Detroit Electric had a range of 211 miles, an astonishing feat even by modern standards.
Its peak of sales was in the 1910s, aided by the First World War and its inherent disruptions to the petrol supply chain.
However, the sudden drop of petroleum prices changed motoring history forever and shaped entire nations around the petrol car. This very quickly turned the electric car from a vital part of city living into an irrelevance.
Despite this, the Detroit Electric was still sold until 1939, 12 years after the death of Mr Anderson, mostly selling cars to order.
After the Second World War, very few EVs would be sold for years. The highest-selling EV of the 20th century post-1945 sold just 4440 units, barely a third of what the Detroit Electric sold.
Ultimately, the Detroit Electric’s fate offers both warnings and opportunities to EV suppliers today, particularly if the complex electronics of your EV relies on barium titanate.
Manufacturers should work closely with their suppliers and ensure that every step of their operations can be scaled up or down to meet the needs of customers.
The carmaking process is only as fast as its slowest stage, and delays in access to vital materials can potentially cause companies to miss their chance at striking whilst the iron is hot.
With battery technology a core market area for many raw material suppliers and processors, there has naturally been a lot of interest in a battery technology that has been described as the future of high-capacity, safe energy storage.
However, its actual arrival and integration into consumer electronics has always been tantalisingly close but not close enough.
To find out why and when major battery manufacturers expect solid-state batteries to be commercialised, it is important to know why they matter to so many industrial sectors.
The solid-state battery works similarly to a traditional rechargeable battery technology such as lithium-ion, but instead of a volatile liquid working as the electrolyte, a solid material or a gel is used instead.
The theory is that a solid electrolyte is innately denser than a liquid one, meaning that batteries can be smaller, have more power, are faster to charge and are not subject to the same volatility concerns that a typical battery has.
All of this is essential for electric vehicles, the biggest and fastest-growing market for electric batteries; as an electric car experiences various different road and environmental conditions, a solid-state battery would provide greater consistency, range and safety.
Whilst there have been a lot of notable research breakthroughs when it comes to solid-state batteries, scaling them up into full-scale production and implementation has been much trickier, and the world’s biggest battery manufacturer has warned people that they may need to wait longer.
CATL has stated that it believes that large-scale deployment of solid-state batteries, which it describes as at least a million EV batteries, will not happen before 2030, limited to cars that cost over 250,000 yuan (roughly £27,500).
At present, CATL has prioritised research into sodium-ion batteries as a way to move away from the rare and volatile metal lithium.
Diamonds are renowned for being the world’s most precious gemstone, with some worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In a world that is increasingly reliant on minerals for specialist machinery, technology and advanced agriculture, it is important to secure supplies. This does not just mean establishing customer relationships with suppliers or domestic sources, but handling crises.
There is a phenomenon in journalism often referred to as “man bites dog”, where reports of unusual events feel more likely and common because they are more widely reported, but the reason why they are so widely reported is that they are rare enough to be newsworthy.
Britain’s first commercial lithium plant is up and running, but this is not the only mineral the growing EV sector will need.
The recent controversy over Donald Trump’s ambitions for the US to acquire Greenland as part of its territory has partly focused on the potential value of the critical minerals the island is believed to possess under its vast ice sheets.
Potassium titanate, which is a titanic acid compound, is used to improve the strength and durability of a range of components used within the automotive industry.
Barium titanate has an extremely important role in the electronics industry. The mineral has important dielectric properties and is very stable. As a ceramic compound, it is invaluable because its ability to work at different temperatures and hard-wearing nature enable it to be extremely versatile.