Reviewed by Lexie CornerApr 24 2025
A research team led by Prof. Mitch Guijun Li, Assistant Professor in the Division of Integrative Systems and Design at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), has developed an innovative single-step laser printing technique to advance lithium-sulfur battery manufacturing.
(a) Illustrations of the single-step laser-printing process and (b) laser-induced conversion during printing. Image Credit: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
This new approach combines the typically time-consuming processes of active material synthesis and cathode fabrication into a rapid, nanosecond-scale laser-induced conversion. It presents a promising pathway for the industrial production of printable electrochemical energy storage devices.
Lithium-sulfur batteries are expected to surpass traditional lithium-ion batteries due to the high theoretical energy density of sulfur cathodes. These cathodes require a combination of active materials, host materials (or catalysts), and conductive components for efficient conversion of sulfur species.
However, producing host materials and assembling sulfur cathodes generally involves complex, multi-step procedures that require specific temperatures and conditions. These processes are labor-intensive and present significant challenges in terms of efficiency and cost for large-scale manufacturing.
To address these challenges, Prof. Li’s team developed a novel single-step laser printing technique for the rapid production of integrated sulfur cathodes. In this high-throughput laser-pulse irradiation process, the precursor donor is activated to generate jetting particles that simultaneously form halloysite-based hybrid nanotubes (as the host material), sulfur species (active material), and glucose-derived porous carbon (conductive component).
This composite is directly printed onto a carbon fabric acceptor, resulting in a fully integrated sulfur cathode. The laser-printed sulfur cathodes demonstrate excellent performance in both coin and pouch-type lithium-sulfur batteries.
Traditional manufacturing processes of a cathode/anode in ion battery usually contain the synthesis of active materials (sometimes combined with host material/ catalyst), the preparation of mixture slurry, and the assembly of cathode/anode. These steps are usually carried out separately under different temperatures and conditions because the materials behave differently. As a result, the whole process can take tens of hours or even several days.
Mitch Guijun Li, Assistant Professor, Division of Integrative Systems and Design, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Prof. Li added, “Our newly developed laser-induced conversion technology offers a way to combine these processes into a single step at nanosecond speeds. The printing speed can achieve about 2 cm2/minute using only a single beam laser. A 75 × 45 mm2 sulfur cathode can be printed within 20 minutes and supply power for a small screen for several hours when assembled into a lithium-sulfur pouch cell.”
Dr. Rongliang Yang, the first author of this study and former postdoctoral fellow at HKUST, explained, “These intriguing findings generated from our study on laser-material interaction. The laser-induced conversion process can be characterized as an ultra-concentrated thermal phenomenon. The irradiated materials undergo a complex transient heating and cooling process, with theoretical transient temperatures reaching up to thousands of degrees Kelvin.”
Dr. Rongliang Yang adds, “The precursor materials decompose, and the decomposed particles recombine to form new materials. This ultra-concentrated thermal process not only enables the formation and combination of materials with different natures, but also drives the concomitant micro-explosions that facilitate the jetting and transferring of forming particles.”
Dr. Rongliang Yang, a former postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Integrative Systems and Design at HKUST, is the first author of the study, with Prof. Mitch Li Guijun serving as the corresponding author.
The research also received contributions from Prof. Aidong Tang of Central South University and the China University of Geosciences, as well as Senior Engineers Tianbao Li and Feiyue Tu of the Changsha Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Co., LTD. The project was funded by the Hong Kong Innovation Technology Commission (ITC) under project number MHP/060/21.
Single-step laser-printed integrated sulfur cathode toward high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries
Video Credit: Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Journal Reference:
Yang, R., et al. (2025). Single-step laser-printed integrated sulfur cathode toward high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries. Nature Communications. doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57755-0.