The "non-invasive repair" technology for batteries has brought a major breakthrough to the lithium battery industry!

On February 13, 2025, the Department of Polymer Science at Fudan University announced an exciting news. The research team led by Professors Peng Huisheng and Gao Yue made a groundbreaking innovation in the field of lithium batteries. This achievement was published in the international academic journal "Nature" under the title "External Li Supply Revolutionizes Li-Deficiency and Lifetime Limits of Batteries", marking a significant leap in China's battery technology. 

In the design principles of traditional lithium batteries, the active lithium ions rely on the cathode material. Once the lithium ions are lost to a certain extent, the battery is considered报废. However, this principle is no longer sufficient to meet the current and future energy demands. To address this challenge, Peng Huisheng and Gao Yue's team abandoned the traditional concept and successfully developed a unique lithium carrier molecule by combining artificial intelligence and organic electrochemistry. This molecule is like a "magical agent" that can provide "non-invasive repair" for used batteries， significantly extending the battery's lifespan. 

After more than four years of unremitting efforts, the research team successfully combined AI with organic electrochemistry. By digitizing molecular structures and properties, they constructed a vast database. Utilizing unsupervised machine learning technology, the team successfully predicted and synthesized an unprecedented lithium carrier molecule - trifluoromethyl sulfonyl lithium (CF3SO2Li). This molecule not only meets the strict requirements of lithium ion carriers, but also is low in cost, easy to synthesize, and has good compatibility with various battery active materials, electrolytes, etc. It has been successfully applied in various battery devices. 

The core of this innovative technology lies in the fact that it breaks through the theory in the basic design principles of batteries, which states that lithium ions rely on coexisting in the cathode material. The lithium carrier molecules designed by the research team can precisely replenish the lost lithium ions in used batteries through a simple injection method, achieving the lossless recovery of battery capacity. Experimental results show that batteries using this technology can still maintain a nearly factory-like health condition after undergoing tens of thousands of charge-discharge cycles (with a capacity retention rate of up to 96%), and their cycle life has been increased from the current 500 to 2000 times to over 12,000 to 60,000 times, which is unprecedented in the international community. 

Furthermore, this technology has also broken the constraint that battery materials must contain lithium, opening up a new path for constructing batteries using green and heavy-metal-free materials. This not only provides a new idea for the disposal of used batteries, but also indicates that the battery industry will undergo a profound transformation. In the field of new energy vehicles, longer cycle-life lithium batteries will significantly enhance the vehicle's range and lifespan, reduce users' usage costs, and effectively promote the popularization and development of new energy vehicles. At the same time, in the energy storage system, this technology can be widely applied to large-scale energy storage facilities, such as grid energy storage, and energy storage systems for renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, improving energy utilization efficiency and promoting the widespread application and sustainable development of renewable energy.