This technology is an organic cathode material that maximizes electrical conductivity and lithium-ion diffusion performance by utilizing the two-dimensional planar crystal structure and intermolecular hydrogen bonding of 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone (Lawsone), a plant-derived natural compound.
Existing organic cathode materials (such as quinone-based ones) have faced issues with failing to reach theoretical capacity and limitations in charge/discharge rates due to low electrical and ionic conductivity.
This technology crystallizes Lawsone molecules extracted from natural henna leaves into a two-dimensional planar arrangement to maximize p-orbital overlap. By loading this onto a gas diffusion layer (GDL) at a level of 2.0-3.0 mg/cm², it improves charge transfer and lithium-ion diffusion efficiency, serving as a foundation for enhancing the maturity of lithium secondary battery cathode material technology.
This technology improves electrochemical activity by heat-treating a composite of a spinel structure (LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4) and a layered structure (Li2MnO3) at high temperatures followed by quenching, which induces nickel—now less soluble in the spinel phase—to incorporate into the layered structure.
Conventional methods for producing spinel-layered composites often rely on natural cooling, which can leave residual rock-salt phases or cause structural and compositional instability, leading to reduced electrochemical activity and lower energy density.
By applying a process that involves heat-treating the spinel-layered composite at 700–900°C followed by rapid cooling (quenching) outside the furnace, this technology can be applied to improve the stability and cycle life of secondary batteries.
This technology is an electrode architecture for lithium-air secondary batteries that expands triple-phase boundaries and optimizes reaction pathways (solution and surface mechanisms) by sandwiching an electron-conductive material layer (first conductor layer) and a lithium-ion conductive material layer (second conductor layer) above and below a metal foam current collector.
Conventional lithium-air secondary batteries suffer from low oxygen reduction/oxidation reaction efficiency due to limited triple-phase boundaries and uneven reactant supply, which significantly falls short of theoretical energy density and limits discharge capacity and cycle life.
By introducing a multi-layered structure in which layers containing electron-conductive materials (such as LiI) and lithium-ion conductive materials (such as Li3N) are sequentially stacked around a metal foam current collector, this technology provides a distinct competitive advantage in the metal-air battery market.
This technology is an anode material that maximizes contact area with reactants and improves lithium-ion intercalation/deintercalation performance by introducing heteroatom (oxygen) functional groups into highly crystalline porous secondary carbon particles obtained through freeze-drying and carbonizing diamond particles.
During the charge/discharge process of lithium secondary batteries, non-uniform nucleation and growth of lithium metal lead to dendrite formation, which causes side reactions of electrolyte decomposition and reduces battery lifespan and stability.
This technology involves freeze-drying a solution containing dispersed diamond particles to form aggregates, performing primary heat treatment (in a non-oxygen atmosphere) to produce porous secondary carbon particles with an sp2 graphite structure, and then performing secondary heat treatment (in an oxygen atmosphere) to functionalize the surface with oxygen groups. This contributes to process simplification and cost reduction when applied to secondary battery anode materials.
This technology features a core-shell structure that sequentially forms a conductive carbon layer (inner shell) and a pre-lithiated metal oxide layer (outer shell) on the surface of silicon-based anode particles. This design suppresses lithium-ion trapping and volume expansion during charge and discharge cycles while promoting the formation of a stable SEI.
Silicon-based anode materials have historically faced issues with capacity degradation and reduced cycle life due to rapid volume expansion during charge and discharge, unstable Solid Electrolyte Interface (SEI) formation, and lithium-ion trapping caused by incomplete lithium extraction.
This technology can be applied to improve the stability and cycle life of secondary battery anode materials by manufacturing a multi-layered composite structure consisting of silicon particles, conductive carbon, and pre-lithiated metal oxides (such as LiAlO2). The process involves carbon coating via dopamine polymerization (Step 1), metal oxide coating (Step 2), and a pre-lithiation reaction through heat treatment after mixing with a lithium precursor (Step 3).
This technology is a cathode active material that induces a reversible phase transition between a layered structure (first crystalline phase) and a spinel-like structure (second crystalline phase) during charge/discharge cycles by intercalating oxygen-containing organic molecules (ether-based) between transition metal oxide layers.
Conventional layered cathode active materials suffer from thermodynamic instability during alkali ion extraction, leading to irreversible structural changes—often locking into a stable spinel structure—which hinders the full utilization of theoretical capacity and reduces cycle life.
By introducing organic molecules containing ether groups (R-O-R') instead of crystalline water into the manganese-based oxide interlayers, this technology facilitates the formation of a metastable state (a 3D spinel-like structure) through manganese-organic oxygen bonding during charging, and restores it to a stable layered structure during discharging. This mechanism significantly enhances the commercial competitiveness of cathode materials for lithium secondary batteries.
This technology involves synthesizing organometallic polymers, such as organogermanium, into nanowires and anchoring them onto a fibrous substrate (carbon fiber fabric). By integrating this into a battery, it effectively captures and purifies (via disproportionation catalysis) superoxide species—the primary cause of parasitic reactions—thereby preventing electrolyte oxidation and electrode corrosion.
In secondary batteries (particularly lithium-air batteries), reactive oxygen species such as solvated superoxide intermediates generated during charge/discharge cycles attack organic solvents or cross-react with electrodes. This leads to electrolyte decomposition, electrode corrosion, gas evolution, swelling, and reduced battery lifespan.
This technology involves dissolving organometallic polymers (e.g., organogermanium, zinc acetate) in a mixed solvent (distilled water/IPA), dipping a fibrous material into the solution, and utilizing a sub-zero freezing and freeze-drying process to create a solid-state oxidative stress inhibitor (ASD membrane) in a nanowire structure. By placing this within the battery (e.g., outside the cathode or on the separator), it can be applied to improve the stability and cycle life of secondary battery electrolytes.
This technology is an interlayer solution for lithium-sulfur batteries that inserts a carbon nanotube (CNT) sheet, on which the porous metal-organic framework Co-MOF-74 is grown, between the cathode and the separator. This physically and chemically suppresses the lithium polysulfide shuttle effect and accelerates the lithium-sulfur conversion reaction.
Existing issues included active material loss and battery performance degradation caused by the shuttle effect—where lithium polysulfide generated during discharge dissolves into the electrolyte and migrates to the anode—as well as low actual capacity due to inefficient conversion from Li2S2 to Li2S.
By synthesizing Co-MOF-74 with a high specific surface area of 1300–1356 m²/g on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) to create an independent sheet, this technology can be applied to improve the stability and cycle life of cathode materials for lithium secondary batteries.
This technology incorporates crystal water into a manganese-based metal oxide cathode active material to induce a reversible phase transition between a thermodynamically stable phase (2D layered) and a metastable phase (3D structure) during charge and discharge. Furthermore, it enhances structural stability by placing metal dopants with high oxygen affinity (such as Al or Cu) between unit layers, thereby improving charge-discharge reversibility and cycle life.
Conventional layered cathode active materials suffer from manganese dissolution and irreversible structural changes (such as spinel transformation) during high-voltage charging, making it difficult to fully utilize their theoretical capacity and leading to a rapid decline in cycle life.
By forming chemical bonds between crystal water and manganese to create a 3D metastable phase, this technology implements a reversible phase transition mechanism that restores the original 2D layered structure during charge and discharge, ensuring the stable performance required for lithium secondary battery cathode materials.
This technology identifies the expansion mechanism of lithium-ion diffusion pathways through computational simulations that account for atomic vibrations within sulfide-based solid electrolytes and phase distortions occurring under an applied electric field, providing a basis for designing doping materials and structures.
Existing experimental research faces challenges due to long development cycles and the limitation of attributing ion conductivity improvements from dopants (halogen elements) solely to the geometric expansion of structural diffusion pathways, which creates contradictions when compared to the actual size of lithium ions.
By utilizing first-principles calculations and Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics (CP-MD) to analyze structural asymmetry and mean square displacement (MSD) caused by doped halogen elements under an electric field, this technology can be applied to secondary battery electrolytes to contribute to process simplification and cost reduction.
This technology involves mixing lithium transition metal oxides with elemental materials such as sulfur (S) or phosphorus (P), followed by heat treatment at the sublimation temperature of the elemental material (150–600°C) to form a uniform compound coating layer on the surface of the active material.
Layered lithium transition metal oxides (particularly high-nickel types) have historically suffered from reduced cycle life and capacity retention due to side reactions with electrolytes during high-voltage charging and discharging, phase transitions caused by surface nickel exposure, and subsequent structural instability.
By utilizing elemental materials like sulfur (S) to form a compound-based protective layer on the cathode active material surface through a sublimation process, this technology can be effectively used to enhance the efficiency of secondary battery manufacturing processes.
This technology maximizes structural stability and the reversible electrochemical activity of oxygen ions by applying a rapid quenching process after high-temperature heat treatment to a composite of lithium-rich layered structures (Li2MO3) and conventional layered structures (LiMeO2), thereby inducing cation interdiffusion between the lithium and transition metal layers and increasing cation disordering.
Conventional lithium-rich layered cathode materials have faced limitations in achieving their theoretical high capacity due to structural collapse during lithium extraction at high voltages and low reversible oxidation/reduction activity of anions (oxygen).
By performing high-energy ball milling followed by high-temperature heat treatment at 900°C or higher and subsequent rapid quenching, this technology induces interdiffusion between lithium and transition metals and creates localized cation disordering across the Li2-xMMyO3 and Li1+xMe1-yO2 phases. This secures structural stability and activates the electron emission/supply reactions of oxygen ions, making it a promising solution to overcome the limitations of existing materials when applied to lithium secondary battery cathodes.
This technology is a non-rocksalt layered cathode active material designed to place lithium in both octahedral and tetrahedral sites by adjusting the composition of lithium and transition metals to maintain charge neutrality while disrupting spatial equilibrium.
Conventional rocksalt-based lithium-rich cathode active materials suffer from low oxygen stability within the Li-O-Li local structure, leading to structural collapse (spinel transformation) and voltage decay during charge-discharge cycles, as well as performance degradation caused by irreversible oxygen gas evolution.
By incorporating excess lithium to occupy both octahedral and tetrahedral sites, this technology reconstructs the non-hybridized oxygen state of Li-O-Li, making it ideal for simultaneously improving the reliability and efficiency of lithium-ion battery cathode materials.
This technology maximizes the electrochemical activity and reversibility of oxygen by diversifying the energy levels of non-hybridized oxygen states. It achieves this by introducing a lithium/transition metal (Li/TM) concentration gradient within 3D transition metal-based lithium-rich layered oxide particles to form a core-shell structure.
Conventional 3D transition metal-based lithium-rich oxides have faced limitations in achieving high capacity due to low oxygen reaction activity, structural instability, and irreversible oxygen gas evolution.
This technology provides a distinct competitive edge in the lithium-ion battery cathode market. By performing primary calcination and pulverization of different metal precursors, followed by mechanochemical reaction induction via high-energy ball milling, it creates a core-shell structure where the Li/TM ratio varies from the particle surface to the interior.
This technology utilizes the micelle structure of block copolymers to electrostatically bind and encapsulate lithium battery additives (metal salts) within the core (e.g., P2VP). This ensures uniform distribution of the additives even in carbonate-based electrolytes and promotes the formation of an ion-conductive Li3N-based SEI layer on the lithium metal surface, effectively suppressing dendrite growth.
The high reactivity of lithium metal anodes leads to dendrite formation, while the low solubility and uneven distribution of SEI-forming additives in carbonate-based electrolytes have historically limited battery lifespan and stability.
By utilizing a composition containing block copolymers such as polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine), an organic solvent, and metal salts that enhance lithium-ion conductivity (e.g., LiNO3, AgNO3, HAuCl4), this technology can be effectively used to improve the efficiency of manufacturing processes for secondary battery anode materials.
