Shanghai, July 11, 2025 — A research team led by Professors Chunzhong Li, Long Chen, and Zhen Song from East China University of Science and Technology (ECUST) has made a significant breakthrough in sodium-ion battery (SIB) technology. They have developed a new design principle for electrolytes, focusing on creating a uniform electron cloud distribution within the solvation structure, which leads to markedly improved battery stability and performance. The work is published in Advanced Functional Materials.
While SIBs are promising as cost-effective alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, their performance is often limited by conventional electrolytes. Ether-based electrolytes, for example, suffer from poor oxidation stability.
To address this, the team designed a novel ether-based electrolyte named BG3. Its key innovation lies in its solvation structure, which features a uniform electron cloud distribution. This unique property results in higher binding energy and a smaller electrostatic potential difference, significantly enhancing both the oxidation and reduction stability of the electrolyte.
The BG3 electrolyte demonstrates an impressive electrochemical stability window exceeding 5V. It enables stable cycling with high-voltage cathode materials and performs excellently in full-cell configurations. Notably, a soft-pack full cell achieved a coulombic efficiency over 99.9% and retained 89.2% of its capacity after 500 cycles.
This research highlights a new and promising electrolyte design strategy based on tuning electron cloud distribution, providing a valuable guideline for developing high-performance batteries.
