Hu Yongsheng

New Capabilities

Lead researcher on the Nature Energy study

Every rechargeable battery in every electric car on the road carries the same vulnerability: if something goes wrong inside a cell — a puncture, a manufacturing defect, a short circuit — temperatures can spike and trigger a self-feeding chain reaction called thermal runaway, producing toxic smoke, fire, and sometimes explosions. A team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has now published results in Nature Energy showing a sodium-ion battery with a built-in chemical failsafe: an electrolyte that automatically solidifies into a physical barrier when the cell heats past 150 degrees Celsius, cutting off the chain reaction before it starts. The battery survived both nail-puncture and 300-degree-Celsius oven tests with zero smoke, fire, or explosion — a first for a large-format sodium-ion cell.

Updated 4 hours ago