Identification of Sustainable Convergence Technology for Batteries via Multiplex Link Prediction (August 2024)

To meet the continuously increasing demand for batteries in electrical devices, solutions in terms of theoretical capacity, safety, and reusability are required. Therefore, it is important to investigate the development trends of sustainable battery technologies by forecasting technological convergence concerning these three aspects. However, no lithium-based battery-related studies have analyzed the fusion of technologies regarding multiple aspects. In this article, we proposed a multiplex network to identify the sustainable convergence of lithium-based battery technologies. We utilized the patents filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The proposed multiplex network consists of three layers representing co-occurrence networks of international patent classification codes for storage, safety, and recycling technologies of batteries, respectively. Specifically, we focused on the technological convergence of the lithium-ion battery, the most influential energy storage solution for electronic products, and the lithium-based solid-state battery, which can be applied to recently emerging robust safety and energy-intensive products. The result of the article suggests future battery technology areas that consider three aspects. This article is expected to contribute to presenting guidelines for sustainable technology development to stakeholders in the complexly characterized battery industry.