Category Archives: innovation

INOV8RS CLUB Podcast Episode-7: #China’s breakthrough in solid-state battery technology – double the energy density

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Pip: Welcome to the feed where ore meets amp-hours — A Blog for Browsing Mining, Mineral Processing, and Metals Info, and today we are talking batteries.

Mara: Specifically, a major development in solid-state battery technology out of China — the energy density numbers, the fast-charging claims, and what the underlying chemistry actually involves. All of it reported by Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng. Let’s start with the breakthrough itself.

China’s Solid-State Battery Leap

Mara: The setup here is a familiar tension in battery research: solid-state designs promise better performance and safety than conventional liquid-electrolyte batteries, but making them practical at scale has been the hard part. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences are claiming a significant step forward.

Pip: The headline number comes straight from the study. The post quotes the team reporting “stable cycling” for 700 cycles with an 81.9 percent capacity retention — and that’s on top of an energy density of 451.5 watt-hours per kilogram, more than double what commercial lithium iron phosphate EV cells currently achieve.

Mara: What that means in practice: a battery that holds roughly twice the charge in the same weight, charges in three minutes, and still performs reliably after hundreds of cycles. For EV range, that combination would be a genuine step change.

Pip: The chemistry doing that work is a compatibilizing-solvent plasticization strategy — which sounds like something a materials scientist invented to win an argument at a conference.

Mara: It is dense, but the mechanism matters. Conventional plasticizers used in PVDF polymer electrolytes suffer from poor electrochemical stability. The new approach uses acetone as a temporary solvent to improve compatibility, then lets it evaporate during film formation, locking the plasticizers into the polymer network and creating a lithium-fluoride-rich interfacial layer that stabilizes everything.

Pip: So the upshot is: they solved a known instability problem in the electrolyte, and that’s what makes the high-density, fast-charge performance possible without the system degrading quickly.

Mara: The post is careful to note the challenges that remain. Dendrites — high-current metallic cracks that cause short circuits — are still a real concern for dense solid-state designs. The piece also flags that China’s new all-iron battery may offer a lower-cost alternative to lithium options entirely, and that nuclear batteries represent a longer-horizon possibility worth watching.

Pip: From doubling energy density to rethinking the chemistry from the ground up — the pace of movement here is hard to ignore.

Mara: The gap between lab result and production line is still wide, but the direction is clear.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see what else is moving fast — in the ground and out of it.

#China’s breakthrough in solid-state battery technology – double the energy density on a 3-minute charge

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A laboratory setup featuring a cross-section view of a battery cell with labeled components including lithium metal, solid electrolyte argyrodite separator, aluminum foil, copper foil, and NMC cathode. In the background, a researcher is working at a microscope with various scientific instruments and notes visible on the table.

Researchers are continually attempting to advance the technology behind solid-state batteries, and China seems to be leading the charge. Following a breakthrough that packs more energy into the same size battery, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences may have developed a powerful new solid-state battery that provides impressive energy density, can be charged ultra-fast, and overcomes common concerns with this battery type. As its name suggests, solid-state batteries leverage solid electrolytes, or materials, to conduct ions between electrodes, versus the liquid or gel polymer materials used in conventional batteries, potentially offering improved performance and safety.

The team reports a solid-state lithium-metal battery with a density of 451.5 watt-hours per kilogram, which is more than double what commercial lithium iron phosphate EV battery cells can achieve. Moreover, it maintained “stable cycling” for 700 cycles with an 81.9 percent capacity retention. In other words, it’s powerful enough to hold a significant charge, can be replenished ultra-fast in three-minute sessions, and maintains its power capacity over many cycles. According to the researchers, they achieved this with a “compatibilizing-solvent plasticization” strategy that introduces a solvent to improve compatibility between the polymer and stable plasticizers.

The researchers basically stabilized and strengthened the electrolytes

The study suggests that “conventional plasticizers” used in PVDF electrolytes — a type of polymer used in advanced batteries — has poor electrochemical instability. Using the “compatibilizing-solvent plasticization” strategy the researchers essentially create a film — a lithium-fluoride-rich interfacial layer — that keeps the plasticizers locked into the polymer network. They use a temporary volatile solvent, acetone, to boost compatibility, which evaporates during the film’s formation. This discovery could lead to more practical designs of lithium-metal batteries that exhibit the high energy density, for more power storage, and fast-charging support demonstrated in the study. That would have huge implications for EV technologies, vastly improving their overall range.

Although research has advanced in recent years — solid-state battery power banks are already here — they still pose quite a few challenges. Dense solid-state batteries are plagued by high-current metallic cracks called dendrites, which cause short circuiting or worse. So while there’s still advancements to be made with solid-state batteries, it’s easy to see that battery technology research is moving at a good pace. China’s new all-iron battery might beat lithium options at a fraction of the cost, while nuclear batteries could change everything we know about portable power, if they come to pass.

Quad members (#US, #Japan, #Australia and #India) unveil $20bn #CriticalMinerals initiative

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A visually engaging graphic depicting the planet Earth with highlighted continents, featuring the flags of India, Japan, the United States, and Australia. The design emphasizes connections between these countries, labeled 'Critical Minerals QUAD Members,' with glowing effects and illustrations of network lines.

The US, Japan, Australia and India have unveiled a $20 billion framework to strengthen critical minerals supplies as Washington continues to seek ways to loosen China’s stronghold.

The four Quad partners said they intend to raise up to $20 billion in public and private sector support to boost critical minerals supply chains that includes mining, processing and recycling by identifying projects in member countries.

“Through the Quad Critical Minerals Initiative, Quad partners intend to work together to use economic policy tools and co-ordinated investment to accelerate the development of diversified and fair critical mineral markets. and support the supply of critical minerals that are crucial to our region’s economic growth and security,” the members said in a statement.e 

Monday’s announcement followed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to India, where he and Quad foreign ministers also announced initiatives to strengthen maritime and transnational security, emerging technology and humanitarian assistance.

Under the critical minerals agreement, the Quad partners said they would support strategic projects through export credit agencies, private capital, development financial institutions, and explore new ways to raise private capital in the critical minerals space.

Critical minerals are used to produce advanced technology, defence systems, electric vehicles and other technologies in the clean energy transition.

Read more at: The National News

Podcast Episode: Rare Earths And Trade Tensions

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Pip: Welcome to the podcast where we track what the earth gives up and what the markets make of it — rare earths, trade deficits, and the occasional geopolitical scramble.

Mara: Today’s episode, shaped by posts from Nanthakumar Victor Emmanuel, P.Eng, covers three connected territories: Europe pushing back on its trade imbalance with China, a long-term rare earth supply deal out of Greenland, and the magnet problem sitting inside the Pentagon’s drone ambitions.

Pip: Let’s start with the EU-China trade picture.

EU and China: Rebalancing an Unequal Trade

Mara: The European Union is signaling it wants a different kind of relationship with China — one where the trade flows more evenly and the strategic vulnerabilities get addressed.

Pip: The numbers make the case bluntly. The EU’s trade deficit with China reached approximately 360 billion euros last year, and the post notes that “particular concern has centered on rare earth minerals after China imposed export restrictions last year, exposing Europe’s heavy reliance on Chinese supplies.”

Mara: So the upshot is Europe is not just haggling over tariffs — it’s reckoning with structural dependency. A summit in Brussels on June 18 and 19 is expected to advance those discussions, with a possible visit from China’s commerce minister also on the table.

Pip: Which makes Greenland’s rare earth story land with considerably more weight.

The Tanbreez Deal: Greenland’s 15-Year Commitment

Mara: The Tanbreez project in Greenland is one of the world’s largest known heavy rare earth deposits, and it just got a significant commercial anchor.

Pip: Critical Metals has signed a 15-year binding offtake agreement with REalloys, and the post quotes directly: “REalloys will receive priority rights to concentrate containing higher levels of the critical heavy rare earth elements, dysprosium and terbium, along with a right of first refusal over additional volumes.”

Mara: Those two elements — dysprosium and terbium — are exactly the heavy rare earths that go into the high-performance magnets defense and clean energy applications depend on. The deal formalizes and expands a non-binding agreement from last October, and follows Greenland’s April approval for Critical Metals to raise its ownership stake in the project to 92.5%.

Pip: Fifteen years is a long runway. That’s not a spot purchase — that’s a supply chain being built from the ground up.

Mara: Pricing is linked to international rare earth oxide benchmarks, and deliveries ship from the Tanbreez port in southern Greenland. The post frames this in the context of the U.S. and its allies stepping up efforts to secure critical mineral supplies outside China.

Pip: And REalloys turns up in the drone story too — which is where the magnet dependency gets very concrete.

300,000 Drones and the Magnet Bottleneck

Mara: The Pentagon has placed the largest drone order in American history — 30,000 one-way attack drones, with a target of scaling past 300,000 by early 2028. Every one runs on a rare earth magnet.

Pip: And the post puts the constraint in one number: “roughly 98% of the world’s magnets are manufactured in China.” That is a supply chain risk dressed up as an ambition.

Mara: REalloys is positioned as a direct response to that gap — holding what the post describes as the only fully non-Chinese mine-to-magnet heavy rare earth supply chain in North America, from processed metals through to magnet-ready inputs.

Pip: The Greenland offtake deal and this Pentagon supply problem are clearly two ends of the same chain.

Mara: Whether it’s Brussels negotiating with Beijing, Greenland locking in a 15-year deal, or the Pentagon counting magnets — the throughline is the same scramble to diversify critical mineral supply.

Pip: Next time, we’ll see where that scramble leads. The deposits are finite; the demand is not.

#EU seeks to rebalance trade relationship with #China

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The European Union must rebalance its trade relationship with China, EU officials said Friday, as Brussels sharpens its focus on economic ties with Beijing.

The EU’s trade deficit with China reached approximately €360 billion ($418 billion) last year, increasing pressure within the bloc to address the growing imbalance.

EU officials emphasized that while openness to trade remains a core European value, there is a clear need to create a fairer and more balanced trading relationship with China.

The European Commission is expected to hold discussions next week on how the 27-member bloc should approach China to ensure more equal trade conditions. A potential visit by China’s commerce minister to Brussels later next month is also being considered.

European leaders are set to further discuss EU-China trade relations during a summit in Brussels on June 18 and 19.

Trade ministers meeting in Brussels highlighted the importance of maintaining strong economic ties with China, while also stressing the need to reduce strategic dependencies and strengthen Europe’s economic resilience.

Particular concern has centered on rare earth minerals after China imposed export restrictions last year, exposing Europe’s heavy reliance on Chinese supplies. China remains the world’s leading producer of rare earth elements.

In response to ongoing trade tensions, the EU has introduced measures aimed at protecting its market from what it considers unfair Chinese competition, including additional levies on small parcels imported from China.

Source: CANADIAN AFFAIRS

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