Electric vehicles can travel over 1000 kilometers

The reporter learned from CATL's 21C Innovation Laboratory that the research results of lithium metal batteries independently completed by the laboratory's Ouyang Chuying and Wang Hansen's team were recently published in the top international journal Nature Nanotechnology, marking that CATL's basic scientific research capabilities have been recognized at the highest level in the field of nanotechnology. The study analyzed the failure mechanism of lithium metal batteries under actual product design conditions and proposed innovative electrolyte design style principles to achieve lithium metal battery products with high energy density and long cycle life.
"Nature Nanotechnology", as one of the five major sub-journals of "Nature", is a top journal with global influence in the field of nanomaterials science. The CATL research team quantified the electrolyte failure mechanism through original dynamic tracking technology and revealed for the first time the core consumption path of lithium metal battery failure. The research results showed that the electrolyte salt consumption in the cycle was as high as 71%, far exceeding the expectations of the academic community. Based on this discovery, the team introduced low molecular weight diluents to optimize the electrolyte formula, achieving a cycle life doubled to 483 times compared with the previous generation of products. The same electrolyte design logic can further support battery energy density exceeding 500Wh/kg, making electric aviation scale and electric vehicles with a range of more than 1,000 kilometers possible.
In addition, the dynamic tracking technology created by the research team also allows the dynamic evolution of active lithium and electrolyte components throughout the battery life cycle to move from a "black box" to a "white box", providing a new perspective for the lithium battery industry. Ouyang Chuying, co-president of CATL's R&D system and dean of the 21C Research Institute, said: "By quantitatively analyzing the interface reaction path, we have redefined the priority of electrolyte design and transformed this achievement into a technical solution that can be applied on a large scale. This is a valuable opportunity to bridge the gap between academic research and the actual application of commercial batteries."
As a global leading new energy innovation technology company, CATL is committed to building a world-class R&D platform and guiding the design of cutting-edge chemical systems based on the underlying logic of electrochemistry. In 2024, CATL's R&D investment reached 18.6 billion yuan, with a total of more than 43,000 patents authorized and pending worldwide, and the increase in patent applications ranked first in the industry for five consecutive years. At the same time, CATL has built a material design automation platform that integrates more than 20 dedicated simulation software and 30 self-developed core algorithms, promoting a leap-forward improvement in R&D efficiency.