Electric cars may be able to charge quickly in the future

　　Nowadays, electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular. Compared with fuel vehicles, electric vehicles save energy and have better handling. However, electric vehicles also have a flaw, that is, charging and endurance issues. A few days ago, the energy conversion materials team led by Professor Chen Gang from the School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of Harbin Institute of Technology has made important progress in the research of lithium-ion battery anode materials, which is expected to realize the rapid storage and output of electric energy in electric vehicles. The research results were published in the top journal "Advanced Materials" in the field of materials science and was selected as the cover article of the current issue.

　　Nowadays, electric vehicles are becoming more and more popular. Compared with fuel vehicles, electric vehicles save energy and have better handling. However, electric vehicles also have a flaw, that is, charging and endurance issues. A few days ago, the energy conversion materials team led by Professor Chen Gang from the School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry of Harbin Institute of Technology has made important progress in the research of lithium-ion battery anode materials, which is expected to realize the rapid storage and output of electric energy in electric vehicles. The research results were published in the top journal "Advanced Materials" in the field of materials science and was selected as the cover article of the current issue.

　　In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have gradually become the mainstream power source for portable electronic devices, and are considered to be the most promising power source that can be applied to electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicle drive devices. In addition, lithium-ion batteries can store and convert green energy such as solar energy and wind energy to alleviate the discontinuity and instability of the above-mentioned green energy and achieve a balance between energy supply and demand.

　　At present, the demand for lithium-ion batteries in many fields is increasing, and the capacity of traditional electrode materials and the ability to quickly charge and discharge have reached a bottleneck. It is urgent to develop electrode materials with high rate charge and discharge capabilities to meet effective and rapid energy storage and output.

　　Chen Gang’s team took the lead in proposing a "two-dimensional nanofluid" structure to improve the charge and discharge speed of the material. The team prepared nanosheets and assembled them into a self-supporting stacked structure. Through electrochemical tests, it is found that the ionic conductivity of nanosheets is several orders of magnitude larger than that of bulk materials, and the charge and discharge performance of the battery is greatly improved. The research points out a new direction for effectively improving the charge and discharge performance of electrode materials, and at the same time provides new exploration ideas for the construction of high-power, high-stability lithium-ion batteries.

　　The research work was supported by the cooperation of the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Professor Yu Guihua of the University of Texas at Austin.