advancements-in-battery-materials

Researchers have uncovered a critical mechanism behind battery failure in solid-state batteries, offering new insights that could help unlock safer, longer-lasting energy storage technologies. Every time a smartphone is charged or an electric vehicle is plugged in, billions of lithium ions move through a battery to store energy. Future devices could perform far better with [...]

The global cobalt supply chain is more interconnected—and more vulnerable—than previously thought, with disruptions capable of triggering far-reaching cascades across multiple countries and industries. Researchers warn that protecting battery supply chains will require system-wide coordination because critical bottlenecks can turn local shocks into global problems.

After adding one to my home, here's why you might want a home battery, how they work, and what to look for, plus some installation tips.

Supplier Agratas sacks its main building contractor on the government-backed project amid a budget mismatch Jaguar Land Rover faces the risk of delays to the first deliveries of electric car batteries from a £5.2bn government-backed factory in Somerset after construction problems. The British carmaker is planning to rely on the Agratas factory in Bridgwater, Somerset, to supply the batteries for …

The cycle number on a lithium battery's spec sheet is true and almost useless, because it describes a life the battery will live only in a temperature-controlled lab being cycled gently by a machine that never has a bad day. A cycle, in that test, means a full charge and a full discharge under mild, steady conditions, repeated until the pack fades to some fraction of its original capacity, often …

The habit every lead-acid driver picks up, glance at the resting voltage to judge how full the pack is, quietly stops working on lithium iron phosphate. It stops working across the broad middle of the range, right where a straight answer would help. An iron phosphate cell holds its voltage almost level for a long stretch of its discharge. From the high end down to nearly empty, the terminal volta…

Nature Communications, Published online: 19 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-74549-0 Carbon deposition and insufficient reactivity hinder the development of anodes in solid oxide fuel cells. Here, authors propose an entropy-induced order–disorder transition strategy to fabricate high-entropy anodes to attain improved catalytic activity and durable coking resistance.

ABSTRACT Aluminum‐ion batteries (AIBs) hold great promise for large‐scale energy storage owing to their cost‐effectiveness. However, Al‐metal anodes face challenges such as passivation, dendrites, and structural degradation, thus limiting long‐term cycling stability. Inspired by the highly sensitive diffuse nerve net of sea anemone tentacles, a bioinspired Al@CNT anode is rationally designed by i…

ABSTRACT Fast‐charging operation in lithium‐ion batteries is influenced by internal mechanical heterogeneity, while its spatiotemporal evolution under high‐rate conditions remains poorly resolved. Existing diagnostic approaches provide only surface‐level information, leaving internal mechanical heterogeneity during fast charging inaccessible. Here, we employ operando distributed optical fiber sen…

ABSTRACT Na 4 Fe 3 (PO 4 ) 2 P 2 O 7 (NFPP) cathode material exhibits a robust structural stability, conferring long cycle life for sodium‐ion batteries. Nevertheless, the intrinsically low electronic and ionic conductivities of NFPP impede its widespread practical applications. Herein, a high‐throughput density functional theory screening paradigm coupled with experimental validation, was employ…

ABSTRACT Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) hold great promise for advancing next‐generation lithium (Li) metal batteries owing to their facile processability and compositional flexibility. However, their practical applications are severely hindered by the low concentration of movable Li + and poor interfacial stability. Herein, a polarization‐induced effect potentiated in situ polymerized poly(1,…

ABSTRACT Polymer electrolytes (PEs) are widely regarded as a promising platform for solid‐state batteries (SSBs), offering the potential to simultaneously achieve high energy density with improved safety. However, in current literature, PEs spanning liquid‐percolated gels, liquid‐assisted quasi‐solids, and truly polymer‐governed solids are often indiscriminately grouped as solid polymer electroly…

Abstract Polyethylene oxide (PEO) exhibits excellent segmental flexibility and solubility for lithium salts, but its high crystallinity at room temperature results in relatively low ionic conductivity. To enhance its performance, this study incorporates highly adsorbent fibrous sepiolite (SEP) and zeolite imidazolate framework (ZIF-8) with high specific surface area and tunable pore structure. Th…

ABSTRACT Gel polymer electrolytes are essential for high‐energy‐density lithium metal batteries (LMBs), but their practical applications are limited by poor low‐temperature kinetics and insufficient high‐temperature stability. Notably, the wide‐temperature design of solvation structures is critical for the stable operation of wide‐temperature gel polymer electrolytes (WTGPEs). Herein, we contrive…

ABSTRACT Although ultrathin lithium on copper foils addresses the issue of dendrite‐induced poor electron transport, their practical application is fundamentally limited by the excessive mass of inactive copper, which severely degrades the energy density of lithium metal batteries. To overcome this trade‐off, we developed an ultralight conductive mesh by modulating a highly conductive MXene layer…

Extreme fast charging in lithium-ion batteries is limited by their poor charge acceptance at high C-rates. In this work, we use overpotential component analysis to decouple ohmic, kinetic and transport related voltage losses during fast charging. The concentration gradients developed as a result of fast charging are identified as the primary culprit in poor charge acceptance, so we study carbonat…

ABSTRACT Two‐dimensional (2D) transition‐metal compounds often suffer from the dissolution of active transition metals and structural collapse during electrochemical cycling. Herein, a sequential acid‐base regulation strategy is proposed to construct Zn and Al vacancies within layered double hydroxide (LDH) laminates, yielding a defect‐engineered NiZnFeAl‐V Zn V Al ‐Cl LDH. Benefiting from the sy…