Lithium-ion power batteries are afraid of low temperature and become undurable, which is "common sense" in the industry. On February 28, a new technology developed by the team of Professor Su Xin from the Advanced Lithium Battery Technology Research Center of Harbin Institute of Technology (Weihai) will solve the above pain points. This technology can increase the service life of lithium batteries by 20% under high-voltage and high-nickel stable cycle conditions, and at the same time maintain a high retention rate of battery capacity that does not drop by more than 20% in an extremely low temperature environment of minus 43°C. The achievement was published in Energy Storage Materials, an international journal in the field of energy and materials.

It is understood that lithium-ion batteries are widely used in consumer electronics, new energy vehicles, power tools, energy storage devices and other fields due to their long life, large specific capacity, and no memory effect. However, when traditional lithium-ion batteries operate at low temperatures, there are problems such as serious capacity fading, short cycle life, and difficulty in charging. The operating temperature is limited to between minus 20°C and minus 55°C.

Professor Su Xin told reporters that changing the composition and physical and chemical properties of the electrolyte, thereby improving the ionic conductivity, accelerating the charge transfer process, and slowing down the formation of lithium dendrites has an important impact on improving the low-temperature performance of lithium-ion batteries.

In his view, among various influencing factors, the characteristics of the electrolyte have the greatest impact on the low-temperature performance of lithium-ion batteries. At present, traditional lithium-ion batteries mainly use non-aqueous liquid electrolytes. Low temperatures will increase their viscosity, reduce ionic conductivity, and slow down the diffusion process of lithium ions in the electrolyte. At the same time, the low temperature will also increase the electrochemical polarization of the battery electrodes, accelerate the growth of lithium dendrites, destroy the electrode interface morphology, and seriously affect the battery performance.

The Suxin team has long been committed to the research and development of key materials and industrialization of high-energy density, high-power, and long-life lithium-ion batteries. He believes that liquefied gas electrolytes and local high-concentration electrolytes can become high-quality materials for next-generation commercial lithium-ion batteries. To implement this concept, they have cooperated with Shenzhen Aorui New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. to carry out industry-university-research cooperation, and have initially realized industrialization.