Industry

KAIST boosts low-cost solid-state battery performance 2 to 4 fold

KAIST said on Jan. 7 it developed a design method that improves solid-state battery performance by 2 to 4 times using low-cost raw materials. The team introduced divalent anions such as oxygen and sulfur into zirconium-based halide solid electrolytes to adjust internal structures, widening lithium-ion pathways and lowering barriers. Measured room-temperature ionic conductivity was about 1.78 mS/cm with oxygen and 1.01 mS/cm with sulfur. The study was published in Nature Communications.

Telecommunications & Media

KT loses more than 100,000 customers in week after contract fee waiver

KT's subscriber outflow is accelerating after it decided to waive contract termination fees in the wake of an unauthorized small-payment incident. From Dec. 31 to Jan. 6, 107,499 customers moved their numbers from KT to other carriers. On Jan. 6 alone, 28,444 customers switched, a daily record. Most of those leaving moved to SK Telecom, and the industry expects the trend to continue through Jan. 13.