en.Wedoany.com Reported - A joint team from the U.S. Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University has developed a simple heating method that allows lithium-ion batteries to retain approximately 93% of their original capacity after 500 charge-discharge cycles, potentially extending battery life and reducing manufacturing costs.
The primary cause of performance degradation in lithium-ion batteries is the formation of micro-cracks in the cathode (a nickel-rich layered oxide material) during repeated charging and discharging, which induces internal stress and limits energy storage capacity. The research team adjusted the heating profile during cathode production: first slowly raising the temperature to stabilize the precursor structure, then rapidly increasing the temperature to uniformly melt the lithium hydroxide, thereby forming a more consistent cathode structure within the particles and reducing micro-cracks and strain. This method requires no additional materials or complex process modifications.
After 500 cycles, the energy retention rate of batteries using the new process is comparable to the best levels of similar battery technologies. To verify the impact of the heating process on cathode formation, the team collaborated with Brookhaven National Laboratory, using transmission X-ray microscopy to observe chemical reactions, and conducted monitoring using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL).
Dr. Hari Ramachandran, a former Stanford graduate student and senior battery engineer at Tesla, noted that this solution produces better batteries using the simplest raw materials without increasing costs. Dr. Donggun Eum, the paper's first author and a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford and SLAC, stated that by precisely controlling the heating steps, stability can be significantly improved without changing the chemical system. The team plans to extend this process to industrial furnaces and test its applicability to other battery chemistries. The research was published in Nature Energy.
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