As electric vehicles (EVs) continue to grow in popularity—now numbering around 40 million worldwide—scientists are working hard to make their batteries safer and longer-lasting.
While EVs are far less likely to catch fire than gasoline cars, battery fires remain a serious concern because once they start, they can be extremely difficult to put out.
Now, researchers from POSTECH and Chung-Ang University in South Korea have developed a new battery design that could dramatically improve both the safety and performance of future EV batteries.
Their work, published in Advanced Materials, introduces a three-dimensional porous structure that helps lithium-metal batteries store more energy and last longer—without the safety risks that have slowed their commercial use.
Lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) are often called the “next generation” of energy storage because they can hold far more energy than the lithium-ion batteries used in today’s electric cars.
This means they could extend driving ranges by hundreds of kilometers per charge.
However, there’s been one big problem: during charging and discharging, lithium tends to build up unevenly inside the battery, forming sharp, needle-like structures called dendrites.
These dendrites can pierce internal layers, cause short circuits, and sometimes lead to dangerous fires or explosions.
The South Korean team found a clever way to solve this problem. They created a porous host structure that directs lithium to deposit evenly from the bottom of the battery upward, rather than chaotically across its surface.
Imagine parking cars in a garage: if the ramps are narrow and winding, cars pile up near the entrance.
But if the ramps are wide and straight, and the lower floors are roomier, cars naturally spread out and fill the lower levels first. This design uses the same idea to guide lithium ions smoothly through the battery’s interior.
The researchers built their material using a process called nonsolvent-induced phase separation (NIPS).
They combined a polymer with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and silver nanoparticles, which improve electrical conductivity, then coated the base with a thin layer of silver to encourage lithium to form in the right place.
This design effectively stopped dendrites from growing and made the entire structure much more stable.
When tested, batteries made with this new 3D structure reached an impressive energy density of 398.1 watt-hours per kilogram—far higher than the roughly 250 Wh/kg of typical lithium-ion batteries.
Even under tough, real-world conditions, the batteries showed excellent stability with no short circuits or sudden capacity drops. If used in electric cars, this technology could increase driving range by about 60–70%, meaning a car that currently travels 400 kilometers per charge could go up to 700 kilometers.
Professor Soojin Park from POSTECH said the breakthrough offers “a new way to control how lithium moves inside batteries, without complex manufacturing.”
Professor Janghyuk Moon added that the process is simple and scalable, bringing the world one step closer to safe, high-energy batteries that could revolutionize electric vehicles.
