China’s Lithium Battery Core Technology Published in Nature: Fluorinated Electrolyte Doubles Battery Life

As the "ion highway" between the positive and negative electrodes of lithium batteries, the electrolyte directly determines the energy efficiency, operational stability, and temperature adaptability of the battery. For a long time, commercial lithium batteries worldwide have adopted a "lithium-oxygen coordination" system. Although this system can effectively dissolve lithium salts, the strong binding force between oxygen and lithium creates significant kinetic constraints. This not only leads to low charge transfer efficiency and excessive electrolyte usage, but also impedes lithium ion migration in low-temperature environments, resulting in a drastic decline in performance. Currently, the energy density of mainstream commercial lithium batteries generally remains at 250–300 Wh/kg, and they cannot operate stably in extremely cold environments, forming a core bottleneck restricting the development of new energy vehicles, aerospace, and electronic equipment for extreme environments.