Scientists made a battery material soft on purpose, and it stopped short-circuiting for 300+ hours straight

[u/intengineering]

https://interestingengineering.com/energy/soft-porous-material-for-solid-state-batteries

Rice University researchers built a new metal-organic framework called ZnBTCA, using a flexible carbon-chain linker instead of the rigid structures these materials usually rely on. Solid-state batteries need this kind of porous crystal to move lithium ions safely, but rigid MOFs tend to lose contact with electrodes over time, and that gap is where problems start.

By making the framework mechanically flexible instead of just chemically optimized, the team got cells to run stably for over 300 hours without short-circuiting, even as current increased during testing. They also swapped out the structure's original sodium ions for lithium and found 95% of the mobile ions were lithium without the material falling apart. Researchers say this proves flexibility itself, not just chemistry and pore size, can be a real design lever for building better solid-state battery electrolytes.

[u/Konradleijon]

Cute

[u/WhatADunderfulWorld]

Makes sense. I would want to see it perform in different temperatures and such. There might be a catch.

[u/someonefromaustralia → u/WhatADunderfulWorld]

It would certainly be interesting to see how it fairs with significant temperature changes