China ‘revived’ used lithium-ion batteries

The team was led by experts Peng Huisheng and Gao Yue from Phuc Dan University, Shanghai, developing a method to help the used Lithium-ion battery restore the capacity and performance almost at the beginning. New research has been published in the magazine Nature On 13/2.

Extending battery life is always an important problem, because the battery will be broken when the lithium ions operate consumed. The new method promises to significantly improve the performance of the battery, while helping to reduce electronic waste.

In the new study, the group of experts developing a special lithium molecule can be injected into the degraded battery to add lost lithium ions, according to Gao. “Like human treatment, we focus on fixing the core issue, while protecting the healthy components of the battery,” he explained.

The molecular design of lithium is a big challenge. There is no previous pattern to follow, the research team applied artificial intelligence (AI) in design. By digitizing molecular characteristics and taking advantage of huge data sets including organic chemistry, electrical chemical, material engineering, they find potential molecules.

Finally, the CF3SO2LI molecule becomes the ideal choice for low cost, easy to synthesize and compatible with common battery materials. In the test, a commercial battery maintained a capacity of 96% after nearly 12,000 charging cycles.

The group of experts is cooperating with leading international battery companies to speed up the application of new technology in practice, Gao said. They expect the new technology to extend the life of the lithium -ion battery from about 500 – 2,000 charging cycles now to an unprecedented level: 12,000 – 60,000 cycles. Gao commented, this is a “unknown” achievement in the world, helping to pave the way for high -performance lithium batteries, low cost, solve the problem of not enough battery life in electric vehicles, consumer electronics and storage Large -scale energy.

China plays an important role in lithium exploitation technology and produces high -end lithium batteries in the world. The country’s lithium-ion battery industry has achieved a strong growth from January to October 2024, with a battery output of 890 GWH, up 16% over the same period last year.