How much do you know about silver nitrate? [SMM analysis]

In addition to replacement reactions, silver nitrate is also widely used in photovoltaics, catalysis, batteries, electroplating, photosensitivity, mirror making and other industries.

Properties of silver nitrate

Pure silver nitrate is relatively stable, but its aqueous solution or solid stored in brown reagent bottles is oxidizing and turns gray when exposed to light in the presence of organic matter. Silver nitrate is also a flammable and explosive substance. Silver nitrate is divided into industrial grade silver nitrate and reagent grade silver nitrate according to production volume and purity. Chemical reagents are also divided into AR grade silver nitrate and GR grade silver nitrate according to purity.

Downstream applications of silver nitrate

At present, about 80% of domestic silver nitrate is used to make silver powder, mainly supplied to the photovoltaic industry. The remaining 20% or so is used to make reagent-grade silver nitrate, catalysts, silver plating raw materials, some electrical alloy raw materials, silver-zinc batteries, photographic films, mirrors and bottle bladders, etc. In fact, silver nitrate is widely used in industry, and nitric acid Silver can be applied in the form of crystals or liquids, and various forms can make silver nitrate more widely used in the need to replace silver.

The market size of silver nitrate According to SMM statistics, the silver nitrate produced in the domestic market in 2023 will be around 8,500 tons. Since the sample size is less than 100%, SMM estimates that the market silver nitrate production in 2023 will be 9,500-1,000 tons. In the past two years, the domestic silver nitrate market has expanded rapidly and developed vigorously. In 2023, the domestic silver nitrate production capacity will be nearly four times that of 2019. This is entirely due to the growth in China's photovoltaic demand in recent years and the local substitution of silver powder.

China imports and exports silver nitrate, but the quantity is small compared to the production volume. The main export destinations of silver nitrate are Malaysia, Australia and other places. The main purpose of export is to make silver powder or other products abroad; imported silver nitrate is used to make foreign brands silver nitrate reagents sold in China, such as laboratory-grade silver nitrate reagents including Merck, Kanto, Aladdin, and Maclean. China's annual import volume of silver nitrate is between 1 and 3 tons, and its export volume is between 3 and 9 tons.

Main production centers of silver nitrate

At present, domestic silver nitrate production enterprises are mainly concentrated in Henan, Hubei, Gansu, Guangzhou, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other places, and reagent-grade silver nitrate trading places are mainly concentrated in Tianjin, Shanghai and other places.

7. Future development of silver nitrate

As silver nitrate is an explosive material, silver nitrate requires production, sales, transportation, and procurement qualifications. Therefore, silver nitrate needs to pass five hurdles to circulate in the market. Therefore, many manufacturers' silver nitrate is for their own use and does not enter the market. Due to the entry of a large number of new manufacturers, while demand is met, it also inevitably brought about a decline in profits.