“Energy Materials and Battery Technology” Workshop Summary
From 18 to 20 December 2025, the “Energy Materials and Battery Technology” Workshop was held in Wuhan, China. This collaborative event between MDPI and the Wuhan University of Science and Technology (WUST) was chaired by Prof. Kaifu Huo (Huazhong University of Science and Technology), an Editorial Board Member of Batteries (ISSN: 2313-0105).
The workshop featured 17 expert presentations that addressed the full lifecycle of battery technology—from foundational material design to end-of-life recycling. Technical highlights included the following:
- Advanced Anode and Cathode Engineering: Research progress on silicon-based anodes (from nano to micro-scale) and next-generation cathode materials for wide-temperature applications;
- Next-Generation Systems: Deep dives into wide-temperature polymer-based solid-state batteries, lithium-ion capacitors, and the design of high-performance manganese-based materials for aqueous zinc-ion batteries;
- Innovative Platforms: The introduction of carbon nanocages as new platform materials for energy storage and the development of novel “colloidal” flow batteries;
- Catalysis and Sustainability: Advanced oxygen reduction catalysts for fuel cells and “liquid-to-solid” catalytic strategies for lithium–sulfur batteries. Notably, the workshop highlighted green recycling methods that utilize electrochemical reactions to recover key metals without external chemical reagents;
- Structural Innovations: The value-added utilization of lignocellulose through supramolecular engineering for smart energy storage devices.
A central highlight was the roundtable session chaired by Prof. Nianjun Yang (Hasselt University, Belgium). The panel discussed the “0 to 1” philosophy of material innovation versus the “1 to 100” challenge of industrial scaling. A significant portion of the dialogue focused on the role of AI; the panel emphasized that it cannot replace the creative intuition of the next generation of scientists. Regarding publishing ethics, Ms. Dalia Su (MDPI Publisher) clarified that while AI tools are permitted for auxiliary tasks such as language editing, they are strictly prohibited from being credited as authors or used by reviewers in the peer-review process.
By integrating these diverse research threads, Batteries continues to strengthen its role as a bridge between pioneering scholarship and global industrial application, accelerating the transition toward a sustainable energy future.
