By Battery Power Online Staff
December 29, 2025 | 2025 was a challenging year for the battery industry, but market forces didn’t dampen all of the industry battery enthusiasm or the academic research into new chemistries.
This year, the top stories on Battery Power Online were deep dives into new materials, AI’s role in battery development, and applications beyond EVs. Leaders in the battery space still gather several times a year at Florida Battery, Advanced Automotive Battery Conference, and other conferences, so we’ve got coverage of those can’t-miss events as well.
Here are the top stories from 2025:
Highlights from 2025 Solid-State & Sodium-Ion Battery Summit
The annual Solid-State & Sodium-Ion Battery Summit was held August 12-13 in Chicago, IL, with the solid-state and sodium-ion discussions split into two separate tracks. Although they overlap, sodium-ion is primarily looking to beat LFP as a low cost and plentiful alternative, whereas solid-state promises to supplant some of the currently-best technology. OEM auto manufacturers, startup battery companies, academics, and government representatives all joined to discuss the state of affairs, predict the future, and dispense advice. Read more.
The Future is Silicon: Silicon Anode Technology Updates from Florida Battery
One theme that emerged from the 42nd International Battery Seminar and Exhibit was that silicon anode technology is maturing fast. In the plenary keynotes, Jeff Dahn spoke on silicon-carbon anode materials; Shirley Meng said silicon is actively coming to the market. Amprius took home a Best of Show award for high-energy cylindrical cells. Coreshell, Nanograf, LeydenJar, GDI, Blue Current, Paraclete, Sionic, Enovix, and Anthro all presented advances pushing this anode technology forward. Read more.
Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Coming to an Automotive Near You This Decade
One topic of interest at the 2024 Advanced Automotive Battery Conference, held December in Las Vegas, was the significant advances being made with lithium-sulfur batteries. Speakers from Lyten, Coherent, and Fraunhofer IWS discussed specific chemistries, architectures, challenges, and successes working with this chemistry, culminating in some predictions that we will see Li-S cells in (some) automotives this decade. Read more.
Understanding AI’s Role in the Future of Battery Design and Innovation
Contributed Commentary by SandboxAQ | While demand for EVs, renewable energy, and portable electronics continues to surge, so too does the need for safer, more efficient, and environmentally responsible battery development. Compounding this are the ever-increasing regulatory burdens and financial pressures to find reliable alternatives that are both technically and economically feasible for long-term sustainability and reduced environmental impact. As with many industries, particularly in chemistry and life sciences, artificial intelligence (AI) is enabling powerful new approaches to scientific analysis for battery chemistry and material development. In the past, leveraging AI for scientific experimentation has been limited by the lack of available data or confined to what had already been tested or published, representing an infinitesimal fraction of the chemical space as a whole. Read more.
Organic Cathode Makes Sodium-Ion Batteries Competitive with Lithium
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have identified a redox-active organic cathode material that excels in sodium-ion batteries, enabling energy density comparable to lithium-ion technologies, high power, and stable performance projected to last over 13,000 cycles. “It can actually compete with the state of the art lithium-ion technology—not just sodium-ion, but with lithium-ion— as well as having a very stable cycling performance and rate performance… it has very high power,” lead author Tianyang Chen said. The research appeared February in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. Read more.
Space Batteries: How SpaceX Designs Batteries for Satellites
While EV, grid storage, and consumer electronics may be the most common battery applications in the news, there are some challenging and exciting edge cases. At the 2025 International Battery Seminar and Exhibit earlier this year, SpaceX principal engineer Ray Barsa spoke about the very unique conditions encountered in low earth orbit (LEO) affecting battery performance. Read more.
