Battery life up 30% without costly additives, using ‘heat control’... Korea University and POSCO offer a solution

[Financial News] Professor Park Hyeok-jun of Korea University (KU) and a joint research team from POSCO Holdings Inc.’s POSCO N.EX.T Hub announced on the 5th that they had developed a manufacturing technology that dramatically improves the performance and lifespan of next-generation high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. They succeeded in significantly reducing battery degradation by adjusting only the heat-treatment temperature in the early stages of manufacturing, without adding costly elements or changing the composition.
The study is significant because it overcomes a longstanding limitation of next-generation lithium- and manganese-rich (LMR) cathode materials used in electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS), among other applications. LMR cathode materials can store large amounts of energy and are considered a next-generation material, but their voltage drops with repeated charging and discharging, rapidly shortening battery life.
The research team established that the temperature used to heat-treat raw materials in the early stages of manufacturing determines the final battery performance. When the raw materials are heat-treated at a relatively low temperature, the metal components mix evenly and the internal structure remains stable. In effect, adjusting the “heat” early in manufacturing strengthens the battery’s underlying framework.
When the team tested cathode materials made using this method through at least 500 charge-discharge cycles, the voltage drop was found to be about 30% smaller than that of cathode materials treated at higher temperatures. This means the battery can maintain stable output even after prolonged use.
The achievement is expected to make a major contribution to optimizing mass-production processes for high-capacity batteries and reducing material costs, as battery quality can be improved by changing only the heat-treatment conditions in the existing manufacturing process, with no additional costs.
The results of the study, which was conducted with support from POSCO Holdings Inc. and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), were published online in the international energy journal ACS Energy Letters.

[email protected] Kim Man-gi Reporter