Aiming at the hydrogen energy and flow battery markets, achieving breakthroughs in AEM material performance, "Zhiqing Bocai" secures tens of millions of yuan in an Angel+ round of financing led by Rongke Energy Storage | First reported by 36Kr

Text | Zhang Bingbing

Editor | A Zhi

36Kr learned that Suzhou Zhiqing Bocai Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Zhiqing Bocai") recently announced the completion of a ten - million - yuan Angel + round of financing, led by Dalian Rongke Energy Storage Group Co., Ltd., with existing shareholder Rongtuo Capital participating in the follow - on investment. The funds will be mainly used for the R & D of core materials and the promotion of engineering.

Zhiqing Bocai was established in June 2023 and is committed to promoting the domestic R & D and mass production of anion exchange membranes (AEM), the core materials in long - cycle energy storage fields such as hydrogen energy and flow batteries. At present, Zhiqing Bocai has established a complete technical chain from resin synthesis to membrane material preparation, holds multiple independent intellectual property rights, and has achieved a stable production capacity of dozens of kilograms per resin reactor. It can deliver a series of products such as large - width hydrogen production membranes for water electrolysis and flow battery membranes to meet the needs for high - performance membrane materials in different scenarios.

Since it started selling products in March 2025, Zhiqing Bocai has delivered more than 60 orders to more than 20 domestic and foreign customers, and its products have gradually entered the verification stage of the industrial chain. Rongke Energy Storage, the leading investor in this round, is a leading all - vanadium flow battery energy storage enterprise. With the large - scale deployment of flow battery energy storage systems, the demand for high - performance ion exchange membrane materials in the industrial chain continues to grow, and leading enterprises in the chain are gradually strengthening their layout in the field of key materials.

I. Focus on AEM R & D and Iteration to Achieve Breakthroughs in Key Performance Indicators

Anion exchange membrane (AEM) is a functional polymer membrane that can selectively conduct anions. Its core characteristic is to balance conduction efficiency and selectivity through material design.

In the field of hydrogen production by water electrolysis, AEM enables the electrolyzer to operate under weak alkaline conditions, allowing the system to use low - cost non - precious metal catalysts and structural materials to reduce equipment costs. At the same time, AEM inherits the advantages of PEM electrolyzers, such as compact structure, high current density, fast dynamic response, and high gas purity, ensuring high hydrogen production efficiency and gas purity.

In the field of flow batteries, the precise ion screening ability of AEM can effectively block the cross - penetration of active substances at the positive and negative electrodes. This characteristic is directly related to the long - term capacity decay rate and cycle life of the battery, and is one of the key materials for developing long - life, low - cost large - scale energy storage systems. At the same time, to further reduce the cost of flow batteries and improve Coulombic efficiency, the attention to non - fluorine membrane materials is also continuously increasing.

"The development of membranes requires the integration of three interdisciplinary technical disciplines: organic chemistry, electrochemistry, and polymer science." The founding team of Zhiqing Bocai introduced that the core of membrane development is the design of organic chemical small - molecule structures, which belongs to the most fundamental R & D. Based on the team's long - term accumulated material R & D capabilities, Zhiqing Bocai continues to promote the engineering and industrial iteration of AEM technology.

Peng Hanqing, the founder of Zhiqing Bocai, is a doctor from Wuhan University and studied under Professor Zhuang Lin, an electrochemistry expert. He has been engaged in research related to anion exchange membranes for nearly a decade and is one of the early domestic scientific research backbones to tackle key problems in AEM key materials. Co - founder Xue Zhirui has successfully founded multiple startups. He early worked in enterprises such as Huawei, Renesas Electronics, and Lenovo Group. Co - founder Sun Wenbin is the director of the Department of Applied Chemistry at Heilongjiang University and has been deeply involved in the fields of organic synthesis and polymer materials for more than 20 years.

At present, the AEM series products independently developed by Zhiqing Bocai, based on the original efficient polymer synthesis process and modification scheme, have achieved breakthroughs in key performance indicators: The tensile strength exceeds 50 MPa, and the swelling rate is less than 8%. In the water electrolysis test, at a current density of 1 A/cm² and a pressure difference of 0.6 MPa, the hydrogen content in oxygen is controlled within 0.5%, and the single - cell voltage is as low as 1.7 V.

Homogeneous membrane products of Zhiqing Bocai

In addition to product performance, the founding team of Zhiqing Bocai believes that cost is an important factor in determining whether a product can be further promoted to the market. Therefore, from the laboratory to mass production, Zhiqing Bocai adheres to ensuring that the performance meets the standards and further reduces costs by coordinating resources with universities, research institutions, and industrial chain enterprises to enhance the market competitiveness of the products. It is reported that compared with foreign competitors, the selling price of Zhiqing Bocai's AEM products is only one - third of theirs.

"The company has always pursued a stable operation model to ensure that the company has sufficient funds on its books, which can support the R & D team to focus on polishing the core AEM membrane products in the next three years. At the same time, an efficient closed - loop mechanism for product R & D, testing, installation verification, and market promotion has been established." The founding team of Zhiqing Bocai introduced. "Since the company was established, it has focused on the development of membrane materials, firmly adhered to the R & D boundary, and concentrated all resources and energy on doing a good job in one product in three to five years. This is an important strategy for hard - tech startup enterprises in the face of cyclical industries."

II. Optimize Product Solutions through Industrial Collaboration to Promote Market Introduction

In the map of energy transformation, hydrogen production by water electrolysis and flow battery energy storage are given great market expectations.

The market for hydrogen production by water electrolysis is expanding under the wave of green hydrogen. Data from consulting firm Global Growth Insights shows that in 2025, the global water electrolysis market scale reached 550 million US dollars, and it is expected to grow to about 3.77 billion US dollars by 2035. At the same time, as an important technology for long - term energy storage, the global market for flow batteries is also growing steadily. The China Investment Industry Research Institute predicts that the global flow battery market scale may reach 30 billion US dollars in 2030.

However, behind the expectations is a longer market introduction cycle, especially for enterprises in the upstream of the cutting - edge technology industrial chain. Taking AEM hydrogen production by water electrolysis as an example, the industry once predicted that it may take 5 - 10 years for this technology route to truly dominate the market competition.

Hydrogen elimination membrane products of Zhiqing Bocai

Facing a longer - term competition, Zhiqing Bocai plans to focus on polishing products, reducing costs, and improving product stability and consistency on the one hand, and cooperate with customers to integrate and optimize solutions on the other hand. "Making a good membrane only represents half of the work. If the solution is not well - done, it is meaningless, and the products cannot be sold in the end." The founding team of Zhiqing Bocai analyzed that the industrial chain where AEM is located has a long testing cycle for equipment safety, stability, and durability. After the products are introduced to the market, it is also very difficult to replace them. Therefore, Zhiqing Bocai needs to spend one to one and a half years to cooperate with upstream and downstream enterprises to polish the overall product solution, which is a competitive barrier for the enterprise.

It is reported that since the official sales started in March 2025, Zhiqing Bocai's products have completed the sales and delivery of more than 60 orders to more than 20 domestic customers. In the field of hydrogen production by water electrolysis, the products have passed the testing and certification of multiple domestic AEM electrolyzer customers, and multiple purchase orders have been delivered. In the field of flow batteries, the products have been introduced to domestic strategic customers and are being tested and connected with European and South Korean flow battery customers.

In addition to the markets for hydrogen production by water electrolysis and flow batteries, Zhiqing Bocai will continue to develop and iterate its products, further improve the performance indicators of AEM membranes, reduce the production cost of AEM, and promote AEM to other fields such as carbon dioxide electro - reduction, seawater desalination, electrodialysis, and seawater electrolysis.

In terms of production lines, Zhiqing Bocai has achieved stable production of resin materials. The next step is to establish a production base and gradually expand production capacity during the market introduction process.

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This article is from the WeChat official account "36Kr Future Industries". Author: Zhang Bingbing, A Zhi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.