New Material made of Lithium, Antimony, and Scandium Improves Solid-State Batteries

Battery Technology New Material made of Lithium, Antimony, and Scandium Improves Solid-State Batteries

2025-05-16 From Stefanie Eckardt | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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Solid-state batteries are considered the holy grail of electromobility. They may not be, but they can store more energy and do not consist of flammable materials like the currently common lithium batteries. TUM (Technical University of Munich) and TUMint.Energy Research are working on improving battery technology and have developed a new material made of lithium, antimony, and scandium.

At the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry, researchers have developed a new material for solid-state batteries.(Image: Robert Reich | TUM) — At the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry, researchers have developed a new material for solid-state batteries.
(Image: Robert Reich | TUM)

At the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the Department of Inorganic Chemistry with a focus on New Materials is working on optimizing solid-state batteries. A portion of the lithium in the compound lithium antimonide is replaced with the metal scandium. This specifically creates vacancies, known as voids, in the crystal lattice of the conductor material. These voids help lithium ions to move more easily and quickly. According to the research institutions, the newly developed material conducts lithium ions over 30 percent faster than any previously known materials.

Thermal Stability

At TUM, there is a great potential for the new material: "Our result currently represents a significant advancement in basic research," emphasizes Prof. Thomas F. Fässler from the Department of Inorganic Chemistry. "By incorporating small amounts of scandium, we have discovered a new principle that could prove to be groundbreaking for other combinations of elements. Many tests are still necessary for application in a battery cell. We are confident because materials that can conduct both ions and electrons are particularly well-suited as additives in electrodes. As this can lead to promising practical applications, we have already applied for a patent for our development." In addition to the higher speed, the material also offers thermal stability and is easy to manufacture using established chemical processes.

New Class of Substances

The researchers have even discovered an entirely new class of substances with their work, as first author Jingwen Jiang, a researcher at TUMint.Energy Research GmbH, highlights: "Our combination consists of lithium-antimony and can easily be transferred to lithium-phosphorus. While the previous record holder was based on lithium-sulfur and required five additional elements for optimization, we only need scandium as another component. We assume that our discovery may have significance for increasing conductivity in other substances beyond this example." (se)

Ready for the road: The EQS is currently weakening in terms of sales figures, but as a technology demonstrator it shows what the next generation of batteries will be capable of. (Image:Mercedes-Benz AG)

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