Chinese researchers achieve important breakthrough in lithium battery technology

Chinese scientists have developed a new type of electrolyte, marking a breakthrough in the country's core lithium battery technology, Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.

The achievement, made jointly by researchers from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) and Nankai University, is expected to double the range of existing lithium batteries and significantly improve their low-temperature performance. Related findings were recently published in the journal Nature.

The electrolyte, which serves as the critical medium connecting the positive and negative electrodes in lithium batteries, functions like a "highway" for ion conduction. It plays an indispensable role in determining energy efficiency, operational stability and temperature adaptability.

Conventional electrolytes on the market predominantly use oxygen- and nitrogen-based ligands as solvents. Although these compounds effectively dissolve lithium salts, they impede charge transfer, creating persistent bottlenecks in enhancing energy density and low-temperature performance.

Data shows that traditional lithium batteries achieve an energy density of approximately 300 watt-hours per kilogram at room temperature, a figure that plummets to below 150 watt-hours per kilogram at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

To overcome these limitations, the research team has developed hydrofluorocarbon electrolytes, which significantly reduce viscosity while enhancing oxidative stability and low-temperature ionic conductivity, thereby boosting the low-temperature energy output of high-energy-density lithium batteries.

This advancement enables lithium batteries to achieve an energy density exceeding 700 watt-hours per kilogram at room temperature while maintaining approximately 400 watt-hours per kilogram even at minus 50 degrees Celsius, said Li Yong, a researcher at SAST.

"With a two- to threefold increase or more in room-temperature energy storage capacity for lithium batteries of the same mass, the range of electric vehicles can be extended from 500-600 kilometers to over 1,000 kilometers," Li said. "Remarkably, these batteries continue functioning normally even in extreme conditions as low as minus 70 degrees Celsius."

This technological breakthrough holds great promise across multiple sectors. In high-tech applications, it could provide reliable endurance and load capacity for spacecraft, drones and intelligent robots operating in frigid environments.

For everyday consumers, it promises substantial improvements in electric vehicle range and smartphone standby time under cold conditions, effectively addressing widespread concerns about battery capacity and temperature adaptability.