Dongguk University said its researchers measured 235.13 watt-hours per liter at cycle 100 in a 2.77-micrometer solid-state cell.
The cell ran at 0.01 C, the university said. In Advanced Energy Materials, the team describes a full cell pairing a 2-micrometer lithium vanadium oxide cathode with a lithium phosphorus oxynitride solid electrolyte. The publisher lists May 7, 2026, as the paper’s first publication date; the research later appeared in the journal’s Aug. 19 issue.
An anode-less battery starts without a separate anode. During charging, lithium from the cathode deposits on a current collector and forms an anode in place. The paper says the arrangement can support higher volumetric energy density at the battery-stack level by removing a separate anode from the initial design. The same setup is vulnerable to lithium loss through interphase formation, electrically isolated lithium and contact loss when lithium is stripped from the collector. Each issue reduces the lithium available to continue cycling, the researchers wrote.
The researchers compared current collectors coated with carbon alone, metals alone and metal/carbon combinations; gold, silver, zinc, aluminum and tin were among the metals screened. The paper identifies tin/carbon (Sn/C) on copper as the most effective seed layer among the options tested. It produced the lowest overpotential when lithium began to nucleate, along with lower voltage hysteresis and more uniform plating, according to the paper. Dongguk says tin helps initiate lithium deposits, while carbon controls subsequent growth.
Dongguk said the team also deposited a thin layer of metallic lithium on the Sn/C-coated collector before cycling. The added lithium was intended to serve as a reserve against losses during early cycles. Professor Hyun-Suk Kim, who led the work, said, “Our approach shows how interface engineering and lithium-inventory management can improve anode-less thin-film batteries.”
The university cited wearable electronics, internet-of-things sensors and medical devices as possible applications.
