Mar 21, 2025
(Nanowerk Spotlight) The speed at which a battery charges depends on how efficiently lithium ions move through its materials. In conventional lithium-ion batteries, these ions must navigate through complex crystal structures, often encountering resistance that slows their movement. This sluggish transport creates a bottleneck, forcing longer charging times and limiting how quickly energy can be stored.
Researchers in China have now developed a new material that dramatically improves ion mobility, enabling significantly faster charging without sacrificing energy capacity or battery lifespan.
Publishing in Nature Communications (“Improving the fast-charging capability of NbWO-based Li-ion batteries”), the team reveals how a crystalline material called niobium tungsten oxide (NbWO) can be engineered to dramatically accelerate the charging process. Their discovery hinges on an unexpected phenomenon: the material performs better when its atomic structure adapts dynamically to different charging speeds.
Using advanced electron microscopes, the team observed that NbWO’s crystal structure responds differently to charging speeds. During slow charging, lithium ions arrange themselves in precise patterns, causing structural distortions. At high charging rates, however, the ions distribute more randomly throughout the material. This disorder reduces lattice distortions and enhances lithium-ion mobility, enabling faster charging.
“We combined advanced in situ electron microscopy with state-of-the-art atom-resolving iamigng capacility, which provided the ability to peer deep into such material sicences at the extremely small scale that have remained unclear for a long time,” Yaqing Guo and Yifei Yuan, lead authors of this work from Wenzhou University, explained to Nanowerk.
To optimize the material’s performance, the researchers identified its primary limitation: lithium ions strongly prefer entering through specific faces of the crystal structure. Using machine learning to analyze nearly 84,000 potential materials, they selected reduced graphene oxide as a surface coating to guide lithium ions to these preferred entry points.
Schematic illustrations of lithiation processes of NbWO and rGO/NbWO. (Image: Reprinted from doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57576-1, CC BY 4.0 Deed).
The modified material, designated as rGO/Nb₁₆W₅O₅₅, charged at 80C, reaching 116 milliamp-hours per gram in 45 seconds—68.5% of its theoretical capacity. Commercial lithium-ion batteries typically charge at rates between 1C and 2C, requiring 30-60 minutes for a full charge. Notably, the engineered NbWO surpasses the fast-charging benchmark set by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), which defines fast charging as reaching 80% state of charge within 15 minutes (4C rate).
In prototype testing, batteries built with the enhanced material maintained 77% of their initial capacity after 500 rapid charging cycles. The material demonstrated high energy density, delivering up to 406 watt-hours per kilogram at lower power demands and maintaining 186 watt-hours per kilogram at high power outputs.
Significant technical hurdles remain before commercialization. The material’s advantages diminish when electrode thickness matches commercial battery specifications, as higher mass loadings increase impedance, significantly reducing fast-charging capability. Current electrolytes and other battery components also struggle to sustain such rapid charging rates.
The research demonstrates how atomic-scale engineering can overcome existing charging speed limitations. This approach applies not only to electric vehicle development but to any technology requiring rapid energy storage and release.
The combination of advanced microscopy with machine learning played a role in guiding material selection, but direct atomic-scale observation through electron microscopy was the key to understanding lithium-ion movement and crystal response to high-speed charging. Combining these advanded in situ electron microscopic techniques and machine learning, Yuan’s team systematically identified how lattice relaxation mechanisms, combined with surface engineering, could unlock faster lithium-ion transport.
This systematic material design approach not only provides practical guidelines for developing high-performance batteries but also demonstrates how atomic-scale engineering can overcome critical charging speed limitations. By precisely controlling both the internal structure and surface properties, researchers can push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, paving the way for more efficient and commercially viable fast-charging batteries.
Schematic illustrations of lithiation processes of NbWO and rGO/NbWO. (Image: Reprinted from doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57576-1, CC BY 4.0 Deed).
The modified material, designated as rGO/Nb₁₆W₅O₅₅, charged at 80C, reaching 116 milliamp-hours per gram in 45 seconds—68.5% of its theoretical capacity. Commercial lithium-ion batteries typically charge at rates between 1C and 2C, requiring 30-60 minutes for a full charge. Notably, the engineered NbWO surpasses the fast-charging benchmark set by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC), which defines fast charging as reaching 80% state of charge within 15 minutes (4C rate).
In prototype testing, batteries built with the enhanced material maintained 77% of their initial capacity after 500 rapid charging cycles. The material demonstrated high energy density, delivering up to 406 watt-hours per kilogram at lower power demands and maintaining 186 watt-hours per kilogram at high power outputs.
Significant technical hurdles remain before commercialization. The material’s advantages diminish when electrode thickness matches commercial battery specifications, as higher mass loadings increase impedance, significantly reducing fast-charging capability. Current electrolytes and other battery components also struggle to sustain such rapid charging rates.
The research demonstrates how atomic-scale engineering can overcome existing charging speed limitations. This approach applies not only to electric vehicle development but to any technology requiring rapid energy storage and release.
The combination of advanced microscopy with machine learning played a role in guiding material selection, but direct atomic-scale observation through electron microscopy was the key to understanding lithium-ion movement and crystal response to high-speed charging. Combining these advanded in situ electron microscopic techniques and machine learning, Yuan’s team systematically identified how lattice relaxation mechanisms, combined with surface engineering, could unlock faster lithium-ion transport.
This systematic material design approach not only provides practical guidelines for developing high-performance batteries but also demonstrates how atomic-scale engineering can overcome critical charging speed limitations. By precisely controlling both the internal structure and surface properties, researchers can push the boundaries of lithium-ion technology, paving the way for more efficient and commercially viable fast-charging batteries.
By
Michael
Berger
– Michael is author of three books by the Royal Society of Chemistry:
Nano-Society: Pushing the Boundaries of Technology,
Nanotechnology: The Future is Tiny, and
Nanoengineering: The Skills and Tools Making Technology Invisible
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