"Battery technology, battery technology."

In Dingguang Research Institute, Lin Xiao was in a chemistry laboratory. Dressed in a white coat, he was shaking a test tube in his hand and chanting.

Obviously, when he faced battery technology for the first time, he was also as confused as when he first faced nuclear fusion technology.

Of course, this is also expected.

Since the birth of lithium-ion batteries, human beings have been hamstrung by battery technology, making it difficult to make progress.

This constraint mainly refers to the constraint on battery energy density.

Energy density is one of the important criteria for evaluating the quality of a battery. For example, the energy density of lithium iron phosphate batteries is generally 160 watt-hours per kilogram, which means that the unit mass of the electrode participating in the reaction contains 160 watt-hours of electrical energy.

And 160 watt hours is equivalent to 0.16 degrees of electricity.

Obviously, this energy value is relatively small.

Of course, with the advancement of technology, in 2026, the most powerful lithium-ion batteries are now able to achieve an energy density of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, but even so, it still falls short of expectations.

Because batteries that can achieve such high energy density are relatively expensive in terms of cost, car companies like BYD are still using lithium iron phosphate batteries with less than 200 watt hours per kilogram. Of course, due to the use of blades

The special structure of the battery makes its energy density per unit volume relatively high.

However, no matter what, whether it is a battery that has reached a maximum of 400 watt-hours per kilogram, or a blade battery that improves the energy density per unit volume by changing the structure, these essentially cannot leave the ionic equation of lithium-ion batteries.

And there is nothing that can be done about it. To achieve this essential "ascension", what is needed is trial and error in countless experiments, as well as some coincidences that are as clever as the Creator feeding rice directly into his mouth.

This leap in battery technology.

Of course, the most important thing is that at that time, battery research had just entered its infancy and had not yet reached a bottleneck. But it is different now. The development of batteries has reached this bottleneck.

Scientists naturally have certain ideas about the development of the next generation of batteries, but the difficulty of crossing the gap has been far greater than before, so naturally there will be no such thing as nickel-metal hydride batteries and lithium-ion batteries, which are only fifteen years apart.

years of development.

Just like the much-hyped graphene battery.

In the past, graphene batteries were promoted with the slogan "it takes ten minutes to charge and can run a thousand kilometers".

It’s just that this thing looks very beautiful, and was finally praised by an academician as “If someone said that this car can run 1,000 kilometers, can be fully charged in a few minutes, is also very safe, and the cost is very low.

Then you don’t have to believe it, because it’s impossible.” This sentence extinguished the heat.

Although graphene batteries are still a direction that can be researched, people's views on them are far less enthusiastic than before. Many people even describe graphene batteries as scams when they think of them.

“So, will the next generation of batteries be all-solid-state batteries?”

Lin Xiao muttered something silently at this time, then placed the solution in the test tube on a fixed rack, inserted a zinc rod and a copper rod into it, and quietly watched the reaction inside.

I saw bubbles constantly emerging around the copper rod, which indicated that the reaction had begun. Lin Xiao also glanced at the ammeter connected next to it. The number on it had changed. In short, it was correct that it was not 0 anyway. This

It also shows that current has been generated in the wire.

This is a very simple copper-zinc primary battery. The principle is very simple. Those who have studied chemistry in high school will probably have seen the teacher demonstrate the reaction process in person.

The solution in the test tube is electrolyte solution, dilute sulfuric acid.

Seeing this reaction, Lin Xiao's mind drifted to the other side again.

"All-solid-state battery..."

All-solid-state batteries, as the name suggests, are batteries that are all solid, including electrolytes.

As we all know, batteries, or primary batteries, require a solution, which is an electrolytic cell solution.

This is also why the battery may leak after it is broken, because the battery casing may be damaged, which then causes the internal electrolytic cell to leak.

The leakage of this type of solution will cause greater danger to the battery. For example, this type of solution may cause danger to human skin or other problems. The most critical thing is that some internal things that cannot come into contact with the air are exposed.

For example, the well-known Samsung mobile phone explosion incident was because the internal battery structure was not designed well, which made it extremely easy to be damaged. As a result, the lithium alloy metal oxide inside exploded directly when it came into contact with the air.

In addition, in addition to explosions, damage to the positive and negative electrode separators inside the lithium-ion battery will also lead to direct contact between the positive and negative electrodes, resulting in a short circuit. After the temperature rises sharply, the electrolyte solution will overheat and spontaneously ignite, which will also bring danger.

Therefore, electrolyte solutions have become the main source of danger.

At this time, if the electrolyte solution can be replaced with a solid electrolyte, then these problems can be easily solved, because even if the outside is damaged at this time, the solid electrolyte will obviously not leak like the liquid electrolyte, causing

Air penetrates into the interior and reacts with lithium. Even if the separator is damaged and a short circuit occurs, it is difficult for the solid electrolyte to spontaneously ignite due to overheating.

"But, what should this solid electrolyte look like?"

At this time, Lin Xiao pinched her chin and started thinking.

At this moment, his brain was like a top-notch supercomputer, starting to operate rapidly.

After a while, he found a piece of paper from the side and wrote the word "solid" on it. Then he crossed out the solid and wrote the word "colloid".

"Well, it's a colloid."

Lin Xiao nodded slightly.

Colloids are neither solids nor liquids in the strict sense, just like jelly. Obviously jelly is not a liquid and does not meet the strict definition of a solid. At the same time, jelly is transparent and the Tyndall effect can occur, so it is a colloid.

.

Now Lin Xiao's inspiration gave him an intuition, that is, this so-called solid electrolyte can be made into a colloid.

"Well... then, now we need to try to design a colloid with lithium ions."

Solid electrolyte, currently the most perfect adaptable object is lithium battery.

Because solid lithium batteries have an energy storage effect that can amaze all scientists around the world under extreme energy density, such as the ultimate form of lithium batteries - lithium-air batteries, or strictly speaking, they should be lithium-oxygen batteries.

Lithium-oxygen batteries have excellent energy density, which is almost ten or even twenty times that of current batteries.

Lithium-oxygen batteries also require solid electrolytes as media.

Of course, there are more critical technologies regarding lithium-oxygen batteries. For now, Lin Xiao maintains a give-up attitude towards the ultimate form of lithium batteries.

However, in addition to this ultimate form, there is also a super form, which is lithium-sulfur battery.

Lithium-sulfur batteries also have extremely excellent energy density, which is about half that of lithium-oxygen batteries.

For lithium-sulfur batteries, solid electrolytes are the main technical difficulties they face. As long as the problems with solid electrolytes are solved, other technical problems can be easily solved.

Lin Xiao raised his eyebrows slightly and quickly made a decision - it was decided on lithium-sulfur batteries.

Thinking of this, he put down all the experimental equipment in his hands, and also packed up the solution in the test tube. He completely followed the standard chemical laboratory procedures to dispose of all the garbage generated after the experiment. Then he came to the computer and started writing.

Received the experimental plan.

Because he had a clear idea about what was to come next, he wrote the plan very quickly. He wrote a 10,000-word plan in three strokes, two divisions, and two divisions.

"Well, it took two hours, which is a pretty good result."

Lin Xiao nodded with satisfaction, at least it was much better than some internet writers who could only code a thousand words in an hour.

After saving the plan, he turned off the computer and came back to the experimental table, ready to experiment with making several colloidal electrolytes according to his own ideas.

At the same time, he was also feeling emotional in his heart.

"Lithium battery, lithium battery."

As the number one metal element and the number two cationic element, what else can the next generation of lithium battery be?

Is it possible that after humans complete the lithium-oxygen battery, the ultimate form of lithium battery, there will be no way forward?

Will the only option then be to go the nuclear battery route?

This is entirely possible. After using nuclear batteries in the future, whether it is a mobile phone or a car, there will be no need to replenish energy, and it will be fine if it is used directly to send people away.

However, for now, there is no need to consider this kind of thing.

Because this technology still needs to go through many generations of technological upgrades. After all, nuclear fission technology has only been miniaturized to the size of a nuclear submarine, and it has not been able to be reduced to the size of a car battery.

However, at this moment, an idea suddenly flashed in Lin Xiao's mind.

Maybe it was the aura of the Energy Revealer that was activated, or maybe it was the inspiration he captured himself.

“Maybe there’s also a hydrogen battery step?”

His eyes wandered slightly.

On the periodic table of elements, hydrogen is ranked above lithium and is also the number one cationic element. In addition, hydrogen is somewhat similar to metals in properties, so the direction of hydrogen batteries is also feasible?

Of course, in the history of batteries, there have been batteries such as nickel-metal hydride batteries, but in fact nickel-metal hydride batteries are actually hydroxide ion batteries, which are different from the hydrogen battery that Lin Xiao is thinking of now.

The hydrogen battery can be called a hydrogen ion battery. Of course, it can also be called a proton battery.

Hydrogen ions are generally considered to be no different from protons, because the hydrogen atom itself is composed of an electron and a proton. After losing the electron and turning into a hydrogen ion, it is equivalent to leaving only one proton, so there is no problem in calling it a proton.

.

With the superior properties of hydrogen as the number one element, if a problem called proton exchange membrane can be solved, and then combined with solid electrolyte, lithium batteries will be completely replaced by it.

Lin Xiao's eyes became brighter and brighter, and then he rushed away from the experimental table, walked to the computer again, turned on the computer, and wrote down a new plan again.

【Proton Battery Project】

Now, he wants to grab both lithium-sulfur batteries and proton batteries, with both hands, and both hands must be strong.

So very quickly, he wrote another ten thousand words eloquently.

"Well, one and a half hours, even faster than before."
To be continued...