Deciphering Temperature-Governed Processes of Lithium-Mars Gas Batteries

Lithium-Mars gas batteries (LMGBs) have great potential for Mars exploration due to their in-situ resource advantage, yet require robust wide-temperature performance support. However, understanding the temperature-governed (TG) mechanism of LMGBs is challenging because of the complexity of multi-pathway carbon conversion and solid-liquid interface evolution. Herein, we found that the reaction interface properties are significantly shaped by the asymmetric competition between two-electron and four-electron processes. Further, the energetic reaction conversion of “carbon monoxide” and “singlet oxygen” simulates high-efficiency lithium carbonate decomposition, based on which an adaptive charging protocol is presented. We reveal that removing the overrated amorphous carbon is the crux of solid-liquid interface revitalization and the battery performance breakthrough by a synergy of visualized observation and phase-modeling quantification. This work fills the knowledge of the temperature-governed mechanism to advance next-generation LMGBs, greatly accelerating their militarization to Mars exploration.

May 2025