(Technology Award of the Battery Division) An Overview of New Technologies and Related Materials Research and Development for Rechargeable Batteries in China

Global concerns on environmental pollution, greenhouse gas emission, and climate changes are making the developments of renewable energy technologies and deployments a priority. Rechargeable batteries and related materials research and development are key to enabling the renewable energy technology deployments, playing an important role. Since China is one of the largest energy consumers in the world today, largely driven by the fast growing domestic utility and automobile market sectors, the strategic planning and policy implementation for rechargeable batteries R&D in China are receiving more worldwide attention.

Here an overview on the research and technology development of rechargeable batteries in China is first presented, followed by a few examples of recent results obtained in our laboratories that are unique to represent the existing efforts and directions. These battery-related technology research and development activities include new generations of functional electrolytes; new reinforced composite polymer electrolyte membranes to improve the safety and thermal stability of lithium ion batteries; multi-valence electrode systems for the next generation of high-energy-density batteries; as well as the bioleaching technology to effectively extract transition metals from the scrapped lithium-ion batteries.