Battery life increased exponentially! Chinese scientists achieve groundbreaking breakthrough in core lithium battery tec

Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in high-tech industries and our daily lives, and their performance directly affects energy efficiency and user experience. Recently, a team of researchers from Nankai University and the Shanghai Institute of Space Power Sources, among others, achieved a groundbreaking breakthrough. Through a novel electrolyte technology, they hope to double the battery life of existing lithium-ion batteries while maintaining the same size and weight, and significantly enhance their low-temperature performance. This achievement was published in the international academic journal Nature on the morning of the 26th.

The core breakthrough of the new battery lies in its internal electrolyte, which functions as a conductor of ions, acting like a "highway" between the positive and negative electrodes. It is crucial for the battery's energy efficiency, operational stability, and temperature adaptability. Currently, the electrolyte solvent in lithium-ion batteries typically contains an important element—oxygen. Its advantage is its strong solubility for lithium salts, but this strong interaction also limits charge transfer, making it difficult to further improve the battery's energy density and limiting its low-temperature performance.

Zhao Qing, a researcher at the School of Chemistry, Nankai University, explained: "The electrolyte aims to both rapidly dissociate ions and facilitate rapid charge transfer reactions, which is inherently contradictory." We considered fluorine, an element in the same period, because fluorine has a weaker coordination with lithium, facilitating charge transfer between lithium ions and thus increasing the overall power density of the battery.

After years of dedicated research, the team overcame key challenges such as the difficulty of dissolving lithium salts with fluorine, synthesizing a series of novel fluorinated hydrocarbon solvent molecules. By controlling the electron density of fluorine atoms and the steric hindrance of solvent molecules, they significantly reduced the amount of electrolyte needed while exhibiting rapid charge transfer kinetics, thereby simultaneously improving the battery's energy density and low-temperature adaptability.