雅思阅读 035 · Solid-State Batteries: Make or Break Moment

改编自 Scientific American（Alex Pasternack, 2026）。题型：选择题 + T/F/NG + 填空。难度：较难（Passage 3，约 900 词）。

---

🎧 课文朗读音频（约 1 分钟）

正文 Passage

For years now Tim Holme has watched the same drama repeat itself roughly once a week. A headline arrives: some laboratory somewhere has cracked the problem, invented the battery of the future. "And approximately zero of those have come true," says Holme, co-founder and chief technology officer of QuantumScape, a company that has spent 15 years chasing the most promised and least delivered idea in energy storage: the solid-state battery.

But amid the noise, the race is speeding up. Announcements are tumbling out of China, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. as battery makers move from lab to factory. Toyota says solid-state cells will finally start appearing in its cars within two years. Chinese companies, which already make more than 80 percent of the world's lithium-ion batteries, have begun shipping semisolid-state cells.

In the U.S., two front-runners are taking alternative paths to the same goal: Volkswagen-backed QuantumScape, which produces ceramic-based cells on a pilot line in Silicon Valley, and Factorial Energy, whose polymer cells are being tested in vehicles by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis.

What is a solid-state battery?

The term describes an architecture, not a set of chemistries — one that replaces most or all of the liquid electrolyte with a solid. In a conventional lithium-ion battery, the liquid electrolyte shuttles lithium ions back and forth. That liquid is highly conductive but flammable, and the fires it feeds burn hot and toxic.

Solid electrolytes replace most if not all of that flammable liquid while also opening up the next frontier: swapping out the graphite anode with pure lithium metal. Because graphite stores only one lithium ion for every six carbon atoms, typical rechargeable batteries top out at an energy density of around 250 Wh/kg. Lithium metal needs no host at all, boosting the anode's storage capacity around 10-fold.

The challenge

The challenge with pure lithium is that it is highly reactive. Hence the solid electrolyte. As it allows ions to pass through, the solid helps physically block dendrites, the branchlike lithium deposits that caused early lithium-metal batteries to short-circuit and catch fire.

Ditching graphite saves space and weight, too, and removes a key ingredient whose supply chain China dominates.

Two rival strategies

QuantumScape has dispensed with two of the four components of a typical battery. Its ceramic electrolyte supports an "anode-free" architecture in which the lithium-metal anode forms on the first charge rather than being preloaded.

Factorial has gone with the grain of existing manufacturing. Its FEST electrolyte — a polymer with an ultrathin lithium-metal layer at the anode — is designed for about 80 percent of existing lithium-ion equipment.

QuantumScape is building a new battery chemistry that demands a new manufacturing process; Factorial is designing a cell that can run on much of the industry's existing equipment. Their bet is similar: rather than compete with China at its lithium-ion game, skip past it.

Skepticism remains

Both companies insist they have moved from science to engineering. But some in the research community remain sceptical. "There is now a significant deviation between what's possible and where the technology really is," says one researcher.

The most recent cautionary tale was Donut Lab, a Finnish start-up that drew breathless coverage after unveiling what it said was a high-performance solid-state cell. It did not release data backing its boldest claims. In June, outside experts presented evidence that Donut's cell was high-performance lithium ion — with liquid inside.

"People who have spent a long time in the battery industry have a healthy dose of scepticism," Holme says.

---

题目 Questions

Questions 1-4: Choose the correct letter.

1. What is a solid-state battery?

• A. a battery with more liquid electrolyte
• B. a battery that replaces most or all liquid electrolyte with a solid
• C. a battery made of graphite only
• D. a disposable battery

2. Why is pure lithium metal better than graphite?

• A. it is cheaper
• B. it stores around 10 times more energy
• C. it is less reactive
• D. it is easier to manufacture

3. How is Factorial's approach different from QuantumScape's?

• A. Factorial uses ceramic, QuantumScape uses polymer
• B. Factorial works with existing manufacturing equipment
• C. Factorial is backed by Volkswagen
• D. Factorial produces liquid batteries

4. What happened to Donut Lab?

• A. it successfully launched a solid-state battery
• B. its claims were challenged by outside experts
• C. it was bought by Toyota
• D. it moved to China

Questions 5-8: T/F/NG

5. China makes more than 80 percent of the world's lithium-ion batteries.

6. Liquid electrolytes are non-flammable.

7. QuantumScape's cell uses an "anode-free" architecture.

8. Both companies have proven their technology works commercially.

Questions 9-13: Complete the notes. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.

• The solid electrolyte blocks (9) ____________ that cause short circuits.
• Typical lithium-ion batteries have an energy density of around (10) ____________ Wh/kg.
• Factorial's polymer cells are being tested by (11) ____________ and Stellantis.
• Factorial's electrolyte is designed for about (12) ____________ of existing equipment.
• Donut Lab's cell was found to be high-performance lithium ion with (13) ____________ inside.

---

答案 Answers

题号	答案
1	B
2	B
3	B
4	B
5	TRUE
6	FALSE（highly conductive but flammable）
7	TRUE
8	FALSE（some remain sceptical）
9	dendrites
10	250
11	Mercedes-Benz
12	80 percent
13	liquid

---

核心词汇

solid-state battery / lithium-ion / electrolyte / anode / cathode / dendrite / ceramic / polymer / energy density / QuantumScape / Factorial / EV