BEIJING, July 8 (Xinhua) -- Chen Liquan, laureate of China's top sci-tech award for the year 2025 as announced in Beijing on Wednesday, is recognized as the nation's founding father of solid-state ionics and a pioneer in lithium battery research.
A researcher at the Institute of Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), Chen received the honor at a meeting that brought together the national science and technology award conference, the general assemblies of the members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the CAE, and the 11th national congress of the China Association for Science and Technology.
Born in 1940 in the mountainous Jialing region of Nanchong, southwest China's Sichuan Province, Chen grew up with dim oil lamps. The early hardships fostered a visceral yearning for the convenience and brightness that electricity could bring. It was not until his high-school entrance examination that he experienced electric lighting for the first time. It crystallized his aspiration: to devote his career to the power sector, so that more people could enjoy its light and convenience.
In the 1970s, as the global oil crisis exposed the vulnerability of China's energy structure, which was heavily dependent on imports, the imperative for a domestic breakthrough became urgent.
In 1976, while on a research visit at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Germany, Chen identified the immense potential of lithium nitride for solid-state battery fabrication. A small button cell, he realized, could far outperform conventional lead-acid batteries, with the capacity to reshape transportation energy.
Recognizing this strategic frontier as vital to national energy security, Chen made a decisive pivot. He formally petitioned the CAS to abandon his established career in crystal materials research and venture into solid-state ionics -- a field then completely uncharted in China.
Returning home in 1978, Chen embarked on lithium-battery research with nothing but resolve. The country had no relevant technology, no specialized equipment and no trained personnel. The path forward was uncertain, and obstacles were formidable.
Working under extreme conditions, he and his team toiled day and night, taking only brief rests before pressing on with their research. They completed a one-year research plan in just five months, a testament to his relentless drive.
In 1998, Chen spearheaded the construction of China's first pilot production line for lithium-ion batteries based entirely on indigenous technology, equipment and raw materials. This milestone cracked the bottleneck of mass production and laid the cornerstone for industrial expansion.
He was the first in the world to propose an innovative solution for nano-silicon anode materials, and related materials realized mass production at a 10,000-tonne scale with world-leading performance. Multiple core technologies developed under his leadership have broken foreign patent monopolies, establishing a controllable self-reliant technical framework for China's lithium battery sector.
Chen has consistently championed the simultaneous pursuit of research and talent cultivation. He founded China's first solid-state ionics laboratory, built academic exchange platforms, and mentored a generation of top-level researchers and industry leaders.
By promoting deep integration of academia and industry, he helped remove barriers to commercialization, facilitating the rise of dominant players such as CATL, the world's largest electric vehicle battery maker.
This ecosystem, built on fundamental research, enabled by applied innovation and scaled through industrialization, propelled China to achieve a historic leap to become the world's largest lithium battery producer in 2014.
"For a nation to move forward, we cannot simply replicate what others have done. We must have our own vision. Without fresh thinking, maintaining a leading edge is impossible," Chen said.
Even as China maintains its global lead in liquid lithium batteries, Chen has never rested on past achievements. Aware of the energy-density limits and safety shortcomings of liquid batteries, he has remained steadfast for decades in advancing solid-state battery technology.
After years of intensive work, his team broke through a global bottleneck in solid-state batteries by pioneering an in-situ solidification technique that enables ion transport across solid-state interfaces. They have now developed a complete solid-state battery solution with fully independent intellectual property rights.
In 2023, high-energy-density solid-state power batteries incorporating this core technology entered mass production and got installed in vehicles, making China the first country to achieve commercial deployment of solid-state batteries, and cementing its leading position on the global stage.
Mindful of China's resource endowment featuring abundant coal, scarce oil and limited natural gas, Chen has also taken a forward-looking stance regarding sodium-ion batteries, exploring alternatives that break resource constraints and open new avenues for diversified, independent energy development.
"The future goals are even greater," he said. ■
