News on China's scientific and technological development.
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The experimental evidence of diffusion of I2 along the SE particle surface and the occurrence of the reaction between I2 as redox mediator and Li2S. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08298-9
An international team of engineers and materials scientists has developed a lithium-sulfur battery capable of retaining 80% of its charge capacity after 25,000 cycles. Their paper is in the journal Nature.
To make batteries smaller and lighter, engineers continually look for new materials. Such efforts tend to focus on the electrodes where lithium is held by other materials. Finding a better material to hold the lithium could result in an overall lighter and more compact battery.
One of the more promising materials is sulfur, due to its quality, abundance and low cost. Unfortunately, some of sulfur's reactions with lithium lead to ion loss, and worse, it tends to expand, leading to degradation and a short battery life.
In this new study, the research team working in China found a way around such problems and built a battery that can hold up longer than other batteries over thousands of recharge cycles.
The approach uses sulfur to create a solid electrode—its porous atomic structure allows for ion diffusion without movement of intermediaries. To create the electrode, the team created a glass-like mixture made from , boron, lithium, phosphorus and iodine. The latter proved to be the key; it helped speed the movement of electrons through the , which led to faster reaction speeds.
Fundamental concept and characterization of the lithium thioborophosphate iodide glass-phase solid electrolytes. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08298-9
The result was a battery that could be charged quickly, even when exposed to . But more importantly, the battery was capable of retaining an 80% charge capacity after undergoing 25,000 charge/recharge cycles—a noticeable improvement over typical lithium-ion batteries, which tend to degrade after just 1,000 cycles.
The researchers suggest more work is required to improve the and perhaps to find other materials to use for the mix to ensure a low-weight battery.
Lithium-sulfur battery retains 80% charge capacity after 25,000 cycles
by Bob Yirka , Tech Xplore
The experimental evidence of diffusion of I2 along the SE particle surface and the occurrence of the reaction between I2 as redox mediator and Li2S. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08298-9
An international team of engineers and materials scientists has developed a lithium-sulfur battery capable of retaining 80% of its charge capacity after 25,000 cycles. Their paper is in the journal Nature.
To make batteries smaller and lighter, engineers continually look for new materials. Such efforts tend to focus on the electrodes where lithium is held by other materials. Finding a better material to hold the lithium could result in an overall lighter and more compact battery.
One of the more promising materials is sulfur, due to its quality, abundance and low cost. Unfortunately, some of sulfur's reactions with lithium lead to ion loss, and worse, it tends to expand, leading to degradation and a short battery life.
In this new study, the research team working in China found a way around such problems and built a battery that can hold up longer than other batteries over thousands of recharge cycles.
The approach uses sulfur to create a solid electrode—its porous atomic structure allows for ion diffusion without movement of intermediaries. To create the electrode, the team created a glass-like mixture made from , boron, lithium, phosphorus and iodine. The latter proved to be the key; it helped speed the movement of electrons through the , which led to faster reaction speeds.
Fundamental concept and characterization of the lithium thioborophosphate iodide glass-phase solid electrolytes. Credit: Nature (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08298-9
The result was a battery that could be charged quickly, even when exposed to . But more importantly, the battery was capable of retaining an 80% charge capacity after undergoing 25,000 charge/recharge cycles—a noticeable improvement over typical lithium-ion batteries, which tend to degrade after just 1,000 cycles.
The researchers suggest more work is required to improve the and perhaps to find other materials to use for the mix to ensure a low-weight battery.
Breakthrough in research on silicon carbide integrated photon quantum entanglement devices
Harbin Institute of Technology (Shenzhen) learned that the team of Professor Song Qinghai and Zhou Yu from the school has made new breakthroughs in the field of silicon carbide integrated photon quantum entanglement devices, which will further promote the application of integrated photon quantum information technology in quantum networks and quantum sensing. The relevant paper was recently published in Nature Communications.
The research team fabricated arrays of single electron spins on silicon carbide on an insulator and demonstrated the coherent properties of these spins through fine manipulation.
At the same time, the research team combined a special silicon carbide epitaxial layer wafer with a silicon oxide wafer and thinned the silicon carbide layer to 200 nanometers through grinding and polishing techniques.
Subsequently, the research team used ion implantation technology to introduce divacancy spins into the silicon carbide layer and verified the spin coherence properties through optical magnetic resonance (ODMR) technology. It is reported that in the silicon carbide studied this time, about 1.1% of carbon atoms and 4.7% of silicon atoms have nuclear spin properties.
Song Qinghai introduced: "We successfully identified a specific type of silicon carbide quantum defect and found that the strong coupling between nuclear spin and electron spin can achieve fast quantum operations." These findings provide an important foundation for integrated optical quantum information processing on silicon carbide wafers.
It is also reported that after the research team integrated this electron-nuclear entangled quantum register into the optical waveguide, they successfully achieved nearly 100% nuclear spin polarization and prepared the maximum entangled Bell state.
Zhou Yu said that the experimental results showed that the light emission and spin of the quantum register remained stable after integration, and the entanglement could also be stably maintained in the optical waveguide at room temperature.
EU challenges China at WTO over royalties for EU high-tech sector
With the aim of ensuring that its high-tech industries -notably in the telecommunications sector - can effectively exercise their patent rights and protect their investments in innovation
Brussels – By now, it is an open and daily war. The European Commission announced today (Jan. 20) that it has requested consultations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to eliminate China’s unfair and illegal trade practices in intellectual property.
The Commission complains that China empowered its courts to set binding worldwide royalty rates for EU standard essential patents without the patent owner’s consent, forcing innovative European high-tech companies to lower their rates globally, thus giving Chinese manufacturers cheaper access to European technologies.
In addition, Brussels believes that China unduly interferes with the competence of EU courts in European patent issues. The European Commission strongly believes such practices are incompatible with the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Since no satisfactory negotiated solution has been forthcoming from China, the EU “is compelled to request consultations as a first step in this dispute settlement procedure at the WTO, with the aim to ensure that its high-tech industries – notably in the telecoms sector – can effectively exercise their patent rights and protect their investments in innovation,” the Commission said in a statement.
This case concerns ‘Standard Essential Patents‘ that protect technologies essential to produce goods that meet a standard, for example, 5G for cell phones. European companies hold many of these high-tech patents, particularly in telecommunications, giving them a technological advantage. By setting global royalty rates for such patents, China is attempting to force EU companies to give Chinese manufacturers cheaper access to such European technology.
The practice of Chinese courts to set global royalty rates for standard essential patents relates to another dispute, that of anti-suit injunctions, currently being challenged by the EU at the WTO. Chinese counter-suit injunctions effectively restrict high-tech patent holders by fining or otherwise sanctioning them if they try to enforce their intellectual property rights through a non-Chinese court. The WTO panel established in this case (DS 611) should issue a report in the first quarter of 2025.
The consultations requested by the EU are the first step in the WTO’s dispute settlement procedure. Without a satisfactory solution within 60 days, the EU can move to the contentious stage and ask the WTO to establish a panel to rule on the issue.
yes, this has been reported earlier in this thread. This is still a while from putting into commercial usage.
The saga continues..
Prominent researcher Chen Jing has to join Tsinghua University in Beijing as a full-time professor.
The award-winning scholar and chief scientist said she would bring “a dual perspective from academia and industry” to help develop computational economics in China, according to an announcement by the university on Tuesday.
Chen Jing, award-winning computer scientist and blockchain expert, leaves US for China
Specialist in computational economics brings ‘dual perspective’ after returning to Beijing’s Tsinghua University as a professor
Prominent researcher Chen Jing has to join Tsinghua University in Beijing as a full-time professor.
The award-winning scholar and chief scientist said she would bring “a dual perspective from academia and industry” to help develop computational economics in China, according to an announcement by the university on Tuesday.