🔋 AI Has Found a Way to "Revive" Dead Batteries for Electric Vehicles
Chinese scientists have invented an "injection" that helps quickly bring spent lithium-ion batteries back to life.
The researchers trained an AI model using electrochemistry data. Then, they asked it to look for molecules that would dissolve well in an electrolyte solution and be inexpensive to produce. From the three candidates proposed by AI, they chose lithium salt LiSO₂CF₃.
🤩 Yue Gao, a chemist at Fudan University in Shanghai and one of the authors of the experiment, compares the idea to giving a human patient an IV: "If we can give an injection to a sick person to help them recover, why can't we have a magic potion for drained batteries, too?"
An electric car battery can withstand an average of 2,000 recharge cycles before its capacity drops below 80%. When the researchers added lithium salt to a "worn-out cell," the battery performed almost like new. By the end of the experiment, after nearly 12,000 charge cycles, the battery's capacity was 96%.
♻️ Electric vehicles already account for more than 20% of the global car market, and the battery takes up about 40% of a car's cost. In 2024, more than 900,000 tons of lithium batteries needed disposal, and by 2040, the volume of waste will at least double. At the same time, all global factories can process no more than 350,000 tons of batteries per year, with more than half of the capacity in China.
