一個研究團隊開發了一種創新的單步激光打印技術，以加速鋰硫電池的製造。

將通常耗時的活性材料合成和陰極製備整合到納秒尺度激光引起的轉換過程中，該技術將徹底改變未來可打印的電化學能源存儲設備的工業生產。

A research team has developed an innovative single-step laser printing technique to accelerate the manufacturing of lithium-sulfur batteries. Integrating the commonly time-consuming active materials synthesis and cathode preparation in a nanosecond-scale laser-induced conversion process, this technique is set to revolutionize the future industrial production of printable electrochemical energy storage devices. The team was led by Prof. Mitch Li Guijun, Assistant Professor from the Division of Integrative Systems and Design at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

一個研究團隊開發了一種創新的單步激光打印技術，以加速鋰硫電池的製造。將通常耗時的活性材料合成和陰極製備整合到納秒尺度激光引起的轉換過程中，該技術將徹底改變未來可打印的電化學能源存儲設備的工業生產。該團隊由香港科學技術大學（HKUST）綜合系統與設計部助理教授Mitch Li Guijun教授領導。

The findings of this study are published in the journal Nature Communications.

這項研究的發現發表在《自然通訊》雜誌上。

Lithium-sulfur batteries are expected to supersede existing lithium-ion batteries due to sulfur cathodes' high theoretical energy density. To ensure the rapid conversion of sulfur species, these cathodes are typically composed of active materials, host materials (or catalysts), and conductive materials.

鋰硫電池有望取代由於硫陰道高理論能量密度而導致的現有鋰離子電池。為了確保硫種的快速轉化，這些陰極通常由活性材料，宿主材料（或催化劑）和導電材料組成。

However, the fabrication of host materials and preparation of sulfur cathodes often involves complicated, multistep, and labor-intensive processes that require varying temperatures and conditions, raising concerns about efficiency and cost in industrial production.

但是，宿主材料的製造和硫磺陰極的製備通常涉及復雜，多步驟和勞動密集型的過程，這些過程需要不同的溫度和條件，從而引起了人們對工業生產效率和成本的擔憂。

To overcome these challenges, Prof. Li's team developed a novel single-step laser printing technique for the rapid manufacturing of integrated sulfur cathodes. During this high-throughput laser-pulse irradiation process, the precursor donor is activated, producing jetting particles that include in-situ synthesized halloysite-based hybrid nanotubes (host material), sulfur species (active material), and glucose-derived porous carbon (conductive component). The mixture is printed onto a carbon fabric acceptor, forming an integrated sulfur cathode. Notably, the laser-printed sulfur cathodes demonstrate outstanding performance in both coin and pouch lithium-sulfur cells.

為了克服這些挑戰，李教授的團隊開發了一種新型的單步激光打印技術，用於快速製造綜合硫磺陰極。在這個高通量激光滲水輻照過程中，前體供體被激活，產生射流顆粒，包括基於原位的糖基霍洛伊座雜種雜種納米尺（宿主材料），硫種類（活性材料）和葡萄糖衍生的多孔碳（電導分量）。將混合物印在碳織物受體上，形成綜合的硫陰極。值得注意的是，激光打印的硫陰道在硬幣和小袋鋰硫細胞中均表現出出色的性能。

"Traditional manufacturing processes of a cathode/anode in ion battery usually contain the synthesis of active materials (sometimes combined with host material/ catalyst), the preparation of mixture slurry, and the assembly of cathode/anode," said Prof. Li.

Li說：“離子電池中陰極/陽極的傳統製造過程通常包含活性材料的合成（有時與宿主材料/催化劑結合），混合物漿料的製備以及陰極/陽極的組裝。”

"These steps are usually carried out separately under different temperatures and conditions because the materials behave differently. As a result, the whole process can take tens of hours or even several days."

“這些步驟通常是在不同的溫度和條件下單獨進行的，因為材料的行為不同。因此，整個過程可能需要數十個小時甚至幾天。”

Prof. Li said, "Our newly developed laser-induced conversion technology offers a way to combine these processes into a single step at nanosecond speeds. The printing speed can achieve about 2 cm2/minute using only a single beam laser. A 75 × 45 mm2 sulfur cathode can be printed within 20 minutes and supply power for a small screen for several hours when assembled into a lithium-sulfur pouch cell."

李教授說：“我們新開發的激光誘導的轉換技術提供了一種將這些過程以納秒速度相結合到一個步驟中的方法。僅使用單個梁激光器只能使用一個75×45 mmm2硫磺的硫磺dode速度在20分鐘內打印出一個小時的小時，即可將其打印到一個小時的時間內。

Dr. Yang Rongliang, the first author of this work and former postdoctoral fellow at HKUST, added, "These intriguing findings generated from our study on laser-material interaction. The laser-induced conversion process can be characterized as an ultra-concentrated thermal phenomenon. The irradiated materials undergo a complex transient heating and cooling process, with theoretical transient temperatures reaching up to thousands of degrees Kelvin.

這項工作的第一作者，也是HKUST的前博士後研究員楊·隆林格（Yang Rongliang）博士補充說：“這些有趣的發現是我們關於激光材料互動的研究產生的。激光誘導的轉化過程可以特徵在於，可以將超濃度的熱量現象定為超高的熱量。開爾文學位。

"The precursor materials decompose, and the decomposed particles recombine to form new materials. This ultra-concentrated thermal process not only enables the formation and combination of materials with different natures, but also drives the concomitant micro-explosions that facilitate the jetting and transferring of forming particles."

“前體材料分解，分解的顆粒重新組合以形成新材料。這種超濃縮的熱過程不僅可以使材料與不同的本質的形成和組合，而且還可以驅動伴隨的微型探索，從而促進形成顆粒的噴射和轉移。”

More information: Rongliang Yang et al, Single-step laser-printed integrated sulfur cathode toward high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57755-0

更多信息：Rongliang Yang等人，單步激光打印的綜合硫陰極，用於高性能鋰 - 硫磺電池，自然通信（2025）。 doi：10.1038/s41467-025-57755-0