This research demonstrates a new way to make carbon-based battery materials much safer, longer lasting, and more powerful by fundamentally redesigning how fullerene molecules are connected. Today's lithium-ion batteries rely mainly on graphite, which limits fast-charging speed and poses safety risks due to lithium plating. These research findings mean progress toward safer electric vehicles, longer-lasting consumer electronics, and more reliable renewable-energy storage.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society on December 11, 2025.

Fullerene is a unique molecule that lends itself well to many potential applications. However, poor stability has been an issue hindering its use in batteries. A team of researchers at Tohoku University created a covalently bridged fullerene framework (Mg₄C₆₀), which shows that carbon can store lithium in a completely different and much more stable way, avoiding structural collapse and preventing the loss of active material that has long hindered fullerene anodes. This breakthrough provides a blueprint for designing next-generation battery materials that support safer fast-charging, higher energy density, and longer lifetimes.

"Our next steps are to expand this covalent-bridging strategy to a broader range of fullerene and carbon frameworks, with the goal of creating a family of stable, high-capacity anode materials suitable for fast-charging batteries," says Distinguished Professor Hao Li (Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR)).

Additional next steps will involve working with industry partners to evaluate the scalability of these materials and integrate them into practical cell formats. Understanding how to achieve real world practicality is a crucial step, one which will hopefully lead towards a future of efficient, clean-energy technologies.

Publication Details:

Title: Covalent Bridges Enabling Layered C60 as an Exceptionally Stable Anode in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Authors: Shijian Wang, Heng Liu, Yaojie Lei, Dongfang Li, Yameng Fan, Liang Hong, Xin Guo, Meng Wang, Zefu Huang, Yong Chen, Xu Yang, Jinqiang Zhang, Hao Li, Guoxiu Wang

Journal: Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI: 10.1021/jacs.5c17338