On August 14th, according to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese researchers have made significant breakthroughs in the field of lithium-ion battery technology,successfully developing soft pack battery cells with an energy density exceeding 600 watt hours/kg and module batteries with an energy density of 480 watt hours/kg. Their performance indicators have directly increased by 2 to 3 times compared to existing lithium-ion batteries in terms of energy density and endurance.

With the rapid development of emerging fields such as electric transportation, low altitude economy, consumer electronics, and humanoid robots, the market's demand for high-energy, long-range rechargeable batteries is becoming increasingly urgent. Energy density, as the core indicator of batteries, has become an urgent technical challenge for researchers worldwide on how to store more electricity with lighter weight and smaller volume.

According to IT Home, lithium metal batteries are considered a new generation of battery technology to solve the performance bottleneck and endurance problems of existing batteries due to their much higher theoretical energy density than traditional lithium-ion batteries. However, the current electrolyte design of lithium metal batteries is difficult to simultaneously meet the requirements of battery energy output and cycle life improvement.

After years of technological innovation and breakthroughs, the research team and collaborators at Tianjin University have pioneered the design concept of "delocalization" for high-energy metal lithium battery electrolytes. This concept breaks the traditional electrolyte design's reliance on dominant solvation structures, achieving a dual improvement in energy density and comprehensive performance. The relevant research results were published in the international academic journal Nature on August 13th.

According to Hu Wenbin, the team leader and professor at the School of Materials Science and Technology, Tianjin University, the research team has successfully achieved the performance goals of the high-energy density battery "Battery600" and the scalability of the high-energy density battery pack "Pack480" through this innovative design. This not only lays an important foundation for the future application of lithium metal batteries, but also combines excellent cycling stability and safety characteristics.

At present, relying on national platforms such as the National Energy Storage Technology Industry Education Integration Innovation Platform of Tianjin University and the National Key Laboratory of Precious Metal Functional Materials, the team is actively promoting the technological transformation and application verification of related achievements. The team has built a pilot production line for high-energy lithium metal batteries and successfully applied them to three micro all electric unmanned aerial vehicles in China, increasing their endurance by 2.8 times compared to existing batteries.

In addition, the team has currently mastered the core technology of the entire chain of high-energy lithium batteries, including materials, electrolytes, electrodes, and batteries. All raw materials and key technologies are independently controllable and have high consistency mass production capabilities. It is expected to be fully put into operation in the second half of this year.