I've recently been reading about some of the breakthroughs from Chinese Battery Giant catl and when they say they have a new breakthrough they almost always deliver on it so when I read about their new batteries including one called the condensed battery that Ed biomimicry and inspiration from nature I got pretty excited in this video we're going to dig deeper into some of cat's latest projects and how they might have just solved the problem solid state batteries originally set out to fix if they deliver on their promise this will make solid state batteries obsolete now I don't say that lightly I've published research papers on solid state batteries and have spoken extensively to PhD battery chemists over the last few weeks about this and everyone agrees that what catl are doing is nothing short of incredible it isn't just the high energy densities catl are reporting that makes me say that solid state bories could be made obsolete it comes down to the Innovative chemistry that they're using this chemistry bypasses the need for solid state batteries alog together and by the end of this video you'll understand why since its Inception catl has grown rapidly and become a major supplier of batteries to a wide range of international car manufacturers including Tesla BMW Volkswagen and Volvo this has positioned catl as the largest manufacturer of EV batteries in the world known for its Innovations in battery lifespan safety and energy density as well as their condensed battery catl have been working on a number of other Innovative batteries which have been making their way into popular electric vehicles like the Tesla Model y the condensed battery builds up on these breakthroughs so we'll go through them one by one to build up the bigger picture of these new cells all of these breakthroughs focus on Three core parts of the battery these are the anode cathode and electrolyte the anode is what electrons flow out of whilst discharging and the cathode is where the electrons flow in the electrolyte is the bit in the middle that allows the flow of electrical charge in the form of lithium ions between the anode and cathode along with some other parts that aren't important for this video These components create a circuit that stores and releases energy powering devices from smartphones to electric cars changing the materials and designs of these three components can have massive impacts on the lifespan and energy density of the battery for example in solid state batteries the electrolyte is a solid material instead of a liquid however the whole reason we want solid state batteries is not because of the solid electrolyte but because it allows us to use lithium as the anode instead of the usual graphite anodes using lithium in the anode is useful because it is lightweight allows higher voltages and can store more lithium ions during the charging process which all lead to extremely high energy densities the reason solid state batteries should enable the lithium metal anodes is because they're meant to stop unwanted things called dendrites from forming however more and more research is showing that these solid electrolytes might not actually be that good at stopping these dendrites from forming this is extremely problematic as if they grow too large they can shortcircuit the battery making it all go bang you can think of this like Japanese knotweed that can always find the weak spots of a seemingly solid Road and eventually burst through in batteries with lithium metal anodes dendrites grow faster than usual due to the higher reactivity of lithium so if solid electrolytes can't actually help us use lithium metal anod what have catl done in their condensed battery and how have they redesigned other parts of the cells to in their words be used in large passenger aircraft we'll look into all of that after I tell you about the musthave VPN from surf shark surf shark is a VPN service that gives you access on an unlimited number of devices with just one account vpns can be a great way to help with security online and with surf shark's multihop system to put two VPN servers between you and your online destination this is better than ever you can also get around Geo blocked content to see the shows or websites you love no matter where you are in the world I even used surf shark recently for renting a car abroad as it gave me cheaper prices depending on which country it thought I was booking from you can also add on security combos like the surf shark alert allowing you to monitor your personal data and get real breach alerts if it is ever leaked online don't restrict or risk your time online and get surf sharks VPN using my link in the description also if you enter promo code zeroth you'll get an extra 4 months for free and if for any reason it doesn't seem like a fit they have a 30-day money back guarantee so there's really no reason not to try it out now let's dive deeper into cat's latest breakthroughs the two batteries that form the building blocks of the condensed battery are the tenner and shenjing plus systems tenner is designed for grid storage and will apparently show no degradation in the first 5 years of operation and the shenen plus can allow electric vehicles 1,000 km or 620 Mi of range with extremely fast charging the big secrets to Cat's new systems come from their 3D honeycomb anodes and their biomagnetic electrolyte inter interfaces so let's see what that actually means in the anode we want to be able to get as many lithium ions in and out as possible we also want to be able to do this quickly without damaging the battery cell this is where the honeycom anode comes in which is the big breakthrough for the shenjing plus cells but probably hasn't made it into the condensed batteries just yet the honeycomb structure can be used at the micro structural or atomic scale this image shows the honeycomb anode micro structure this honeycomb structure increases the surface area of the anode because more of it is exposed which in turn increases how quickly the lithium ions can get into it the small open gaps in the honeycomb also gives space for the anode to expand as the lithium ions go in this is important because otherwise the battery can swell slightly during charging which adds stress and causes aging to happen more quickly the type of honeycomb structure that catl seem to be using in the Shen Zing pack however is at the atomic scale this image shows a honeycomb structure of carbon that has strong bonds holding each of the carbon atoms together this means when the lithium ions come in to sit within the network of carbon atoms the strong bonds stop the anode from expanding which again helps reduce aging especially during fast charging now the biggest breakthrough is of the biometic electrolyte interfaces this same Discovery is what can allow both the condensed battery to use a lithium metal anode and the tenner battery to reportedly achieve zero degradation in its first 5 years in the batteries we use today when you charge them for the first time a thin interface layer forms between the anode and the electrolyte this acts as a protective barrier to reduce dendrite formation however these interface layers aren't strong enough for when we want to use lithium metal anodes like the ones in the condensed battery this is why cat's biometic interface is specially designed and tuned to be stronger than ever holding back even the most forceful dendrites from breaking through the biometic electrolyte interface is formed using something called self assembling artificial interfaces through a chemical process of aligning polymers at the interface structures similar to those found in animal cells can be constructed that are both mechanically strong and conductive these polymers can be thought of as strands of string or spaghetti where one end is attracted to the lithium and the other end is repelled away from it this causes the polymers to band together in a uniform shape like troops on the front line of battle ready to stop the invading dendrites this means Cat's new interface layer is strong enough to withstand even the powerful dendrites from lithium metal anodes in the condensed battery the rest of the electrolyte after this breakthrough interface is a gel this is similar to the liquid electrolyte in a normal cell but it is what enables the special electrolyte interface to form at the anode catl haven't given too much detail about the cathodes but you can bet there'll be ultra high energy density ones like those used in Long Range electric vehicles I really can't overstate that this ability to use lithium metal anodes without the need for solid electrolytes is a real game Cher because solid electrolytes have a whole load of challenges that haven't yet been addressed and judging by recent progress those problems could keep moving 5 years way however this new biomagnetic electrolyte interface could be a solution that's available now solid state batteries were never really the aim it has always been the lithium metal anode catl have been clear that this is not a lab scale demonstration they have said that this is currently operational in a ton scale electric passenger aircraft though we are yet to see videos they quote energy densities of five 500 W hours per kogam that is around double Tesla's Flagship 4680 cells I can't wait to see more on these developments over the next year or two and would love to hear your thoughts down in the comments below as you're still watching please subscribe to the channel it's free and we'll keep you up to date on all the other videos I make about sustainable engineering around the world like this one on a new wind turbine design and as always thanks for watching