this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2026
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563
Donut Lab's miracle battery found to be a fraud, investigation claims (interestingengineering.com)
submitted 16 hours ago by Some_Emo_Chick@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 38 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

This seems to be a smoking gun:

Researchers say the most convincing evidence came from measuring how the cell expanded during charging.

When a battery charges, ions move into the anode, causing it to expand. Graphite anodes have a unique expansion pattern because of changes in graphite’s layered structure. The Donut Lab cell showed this exact pattern.

This finding matters because sodium ions are too big to fit into graphite the way lithium ions do. According to investigators, the graphite expansion pattern clearly shows that lithium is the active ion in the battery.

[–] Fmstrat@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

However they don't mention heat threshold. Other analysis showed the battery withstanding well over the temps lithium ion would, even with a punctured vacuum. I personally don't believe the crazy 400 figure, but I'm not sold either way on it being a lithium ion battery just yet.

[–] suigenerix@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

Yep, that's a massive argument against Donut. But the question I haven't seen the battery experts address is whether the expansion pattern is unique to the chemistry they believe it is. Are there other chemistries that could produce the same effect? The investigators clearly don't think so, but Donut also isn't claiming to be using previously seen tech.

Either way, it's not looking good for Donut. The burden of proof is, and always has been, on them, and they have a looooong climb out of the hole they've dug.

Regardless, Ziroth and others make a good point that Donut's marketing games are damaging to the industry. Other legitimate players seeking investment will be tarnished by Donut's antics. So even if their tech turned out to be legit, they're still going to be a bad actor.