Solid state batteries come in several flavours. Most of them don't stop dendrites.
The flavour you want is polymer, single ion conducting solid state with an ion transport activation energy below 10kJ/mol at room temperature and no phase transitions from -40C to 80C.
That is the holy grail of SS batteries.
> The flavour you want is polymer, single ion conducting solid state with an ion transport activation energy below 10kJ/mol at room temperature and no phase transitions from -40C to 80C.
what makes it so? I don't know anything about this subject, I'm really curious now about what the perfect battery would be.
No idea why polymer single ion conducting would stop dendrites (I know people are looking for it, I don't know why).
But 10kJ/mol of activation energy is another way of saying less than 100mV of internal loses, and avoiding phase transitions means that your battery won't stop working on that temperature range.
their benefit boiled down (sic) to flammability, or the lack thereof, right ?
I’m still a novice on the material science behind it, but what is QuantumScape lacking here if anything, and why is it a dealbreaker?
The only thing different from this list is the ceramic separator. It’s not polymer. However, the ceramic is ultra thin to the point that it’s flexible so volume expansion isn’t a problem and it solves the dendrite problem.
Perhaps a polymer will be invented that can’t be pierced by dendrites. But existing polymers need to be heated for ion transfer efficiency and are combustable.
Technically, QuantumScape also uses an organic liquid catholyte inside the cathode. So it’s not “pure” solid state.
Are anyone building the battery you described?
No. The holy grail goes undiscovered for now.
Seems to be some progress on learning more about it: https://news.mit.edu/2026/discovery-helps-explain-why-solid-...
Aliens somewhere, presumably.
Isn't their tech powered by portable black holes?
The regulatory approval for those is just too expensive in practice. I mean you blow up one star due to cost cutting and nobody trusts the tech ever again...
"no phase transitions from -40C to 80C."
Well that's fine for terrestrial use but aerospace needs that range to be expanded a little in both directions, otherwise it won't be much of a holy grail if it won't cover the needs of one of the largest growing industries.
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Please don't attack another user like this, no matter how wrong someone is or you feel they are. It only makes things worse.
I believe I get the positive intention behind your post, btw - to defend conversation against shallow dismissals - and of course appreciate that. But if you'd please express it in a respectful way in the future, then you'll be contributing to good conversation rather than degrading it further.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
To be fair, the poster said “holy grail” which implies perfection.
Absolutely. No idea what’s going on with these downvotes.
"you're wasting everyone's time by trying to appear smart."
No, I actually work in aerospace and know EXACTLY what the fuck I'm speaking of. Do you build satellites? Looking at your history - no you do not. I do. In fact, I'm responsible FOR THE POWER SYSTEMS (that's battery and solar AND any RTG should we ever go that route.)
Sit down.
Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes things worse.
If you know more than others do, that's great! But please contribute by sharing some of what you know, so the rest of us can learn, rather than putting others down.
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
How does someone with such short temper get to work in the aerospace industry? You know we are just a bunch of random strangers on the internet and telling someone to "sit down" just comes across as funny more than authoritative. And I don't think telling someone "I know exactly what the fuck I'm speaking of" has ever had the desired effect on the internet, it just screams insecure - if you're really an expert make it show through your words not by trying to intimidate people.