Bringing 'giant batteries' closer to commercialization in the AI data center era

The research team. From left: Professor Hee-Tak Kim, Ph.D. candidate Kyunghwa Seok (first author), and Ph.D. candidate Minseong Kang (second author) from the KAIST Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Credit: KAIST

The explosive growth of AI data centers has brought the commercialization of "giant batteries" one step closer. A KAIST research team has developed a process that cuts the production time for a core material used in large-capacity batteries by 67%, resolving the largest production bottleneck standing in the way of commercialization.

The research team led by professor Hee-Tak Kim from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering has developed a process for producing the core electrolyte of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs)—a leading candidate for large-capacity energy storage systems (ESS)—faster and more stably.

The findings were published in Advanced Energy Materials.

Storage demand is rising fast