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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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Scientists Found a Surprisingly Simple Way to Stop Batteries From Dying

Lithium-ion batteries power much of the modern world. They run smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, renewable energy systems, and even large data centers. But despite their importance, one major problem continues to limit battery life: over time, the internal materials inside batteries begin to crack and degrade.

Now, researchers at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center have discovered a surprisingly simple way to make lithium-ion batteries last much longer without adding expensive materials or changing the battery’s chemistry. Their breakthrough could help create more durable batteries for electric vehicles, grid-scale energy storage, and many other technologies that rely on long-lasting power.

The study, published in Nature Energy, shows that carefully controlling the heating process during battery manufacturing can dramatically improve battery stability and lifespan.

Why Lithium-Ion Batteries Fail

Inside every lithium-ion battery are two important components called electrodes: the anode and the cathode. During charging and discharging, lithium ions move back and forth between these two sides to store and release energy.

One of the most common causes of battery failure happens inside the cathode. Over hundreds of charging cycles, the cathode material experiences mechanical stress. Tiny cracks begin to form, and eventually the structure breaks apart. As this damage grows, the battery loses its ability to hold energy efficiently.

This problem is especially serious in nickel-rich layered-oxide cathodes, which are widely used in high-performance batteries because they can store large amounts of energy. These cathodes are important for technologies such as electric vehicles, renewable energy storage systems, and large computing facilities.

For years, battery scientists believed that preventing these cracks required complicated and expensive solutions. Many researchers tried adding special chemical coatings or mixing extra materials called dopants into the cathodes to strengthen them. While these methods can help, they also increase manufacturing costs and complexity.

The Stanford and SLAC researchers decided to try something different.

A Simpler Solution

Instead of changing the battery chemistry, the team focused on the manufacturing process itself.

When these cathodes are made, manufacturers combine lithium hydroxide with nickel-rich precursor materials and heat them at high temperatures. During this process, the materials melt, react, and form the final cathode structure.

Traditionally, this heating process is done slowly and steadily. But the researchers discovered that this method creates uneven internal structures inside the cathode particles.

Some regions react earlier than others, creating tiny differences throughout the material. Over time, these uneven areas experience different levels of stress during charging and discharging, eventually causing cracks and fractures.

The research team realized that the heating process itself might be the key to solving the problem.

They developed a new approach:

  • First, heat the materials slowly for several hours.

  • Then rapidly increase the temperature.

This carefully controlled heating sequence produced a much more uniform internal structure inside the cathode particles.

Because the internal structure became more even, stress during battery operation was distributed more smoothly. As a result, the cathodes became far more resistant to cracking and degradation.

Impressive Battery Performance

The results were remarkable.

The improved cathode material retained nearly 93% of its energy capacity after 500 charging cycles. That level of performance is considered extremely strong for nickel-rich lithium-ion batteries.

According to the researchers, the new design performs as well as some of the best advanced battery systems currently available, but without requiring expensive coatings or additional manufacturing steps.

William Chueh, director of the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy and the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center, explained that the team found a way to improve battery life without increasing production costs.

Researcher Donggun Eum said the discovery shows how powerful simple manufacturing adjustments can be. By carefully controlling the heating process, the researchers dramatically improved battery stability while keeping the chemistry unchanged.

Another researcher involved in the study, Hari Ramachandran, noted that the industry had long accepted cracking as an unavoidable problem that required expensive fixes. Their work challenges that assumption by showing that better results can come from simpler manufacturing techniques.

Watching Battery Materials Form in Real Time

To understand exactly how the new heating process worked, the team used powerful scientific instruments to observe the cathode materials during synthesis.

At the Brookhaven National Laboratory, researchers used transmission X-ray microscopy to watch how the reactions occurred in real time.

Meanwhile, at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, the team used advanced X-ray absorption spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques to study the chemical and structural changes happening during cathode formation.

These observations revealed something important.

When the materials were heated slowly at first, the precursor compounds released water gradually. This prevented the formation of porous structures inside the cathode particles. Once this stage was complete, rapidly increasing the heat melted the lithium hydroxide more effectively, allowing the materials to react evenly and form a smoother internal structure.

The result was a stronger and more stable cathode with far fewer weak points.

Why This Discovery Matters

Battery technology is becoming increasingly important as the world moves toward clean energy and electrification.

Electric vehicles need batteries that can survive thousands of charging cycles. Renewable energy systems require long-lasting storage to balance solar and wind power. Data centers and AI infrastructure also depend heavily on reliable large-scale battery systems.

Improving battery lifespan could reduce replacement costs, lower electronic waste, and make energy storage systems more sustainable.

What makes this discovery especially important is its simplicity. Many advanced battery improvements require rare materials, expensive coatings, or entirely new production systems. This method mainly changes the heating schedule during manufacturing.

That means manufacturers may be able to adopt the technique without dramatically increasing production costs.

The researchers now plan to scale the process for industrial-sized furnaces and explore whether the same strategy can improve other battery chemistries as well.

If successful, this approach could become a new manufacturing standard for future lithium-ion batteries.

A Small Change With Big Potential

Scientific breakthroughs are often associated with entirely new materials or futuristic technologies. But sometimes, major improvements come from better understanding existing processes.

This research demonstrates that even a simple adjustment in manufacturing temperature can have a massive impact on battery performance and durability.

As demand for cleaner energy and better battery storage continues to grow worldwide, innovations like this may help create longer-lasting, more affordable, and more sustainable batteries for the future.

The study suggests that the next generation of powerful lithium-ion batteries may not require complicated redesigns after all — just smarter manufacturing.

Reference: Eum, D., Ramachandran, H., Sun, T. et al. Uniform pore structure enables negligible degradation in undoped and uncoated Ni-rich cathodes. Nat Energy 11, 593–602 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-026-01988-w

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