Overview

• Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported in Nature Sustainability a self-healing interface that fills microscopic gaps and removes the need for more than 5 MPa of external pressure.
• The design forms an iodine-rich interfacial layer during operation, and prototype cells maintained steady performance over hundreds of charge–discharge cycles, according to the study.
• University of Maryland battery expert Chunsheng Wang, not involved in the work, called the advance a decisive step that addresses a long-standing commercialization bottleneck.
• Toyota and Sumitomo Metal Mining agreed to jointly develop and mass-produce cathode materials, with large-scale output targeted from the financial year beginning April 2028 and priority supply to Toyota.
• Toyota points to first vehicles using all-solid-state cells in 2027–2028, supported by its electrolyte collaboration with Idemitsu Kosan, while scale-up, long-duration durability and cost remain open challenges.