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Donut Lab's 'Solid-State' Battery Exposed As Regular Li-Ion (electrek.co) 294

A battery researcher's investigation, backed by more than 20 independent experts, claims Donut Lab's much-hyped "solid-state" battery is actually a conventional lithium-ion cell, with voltage curves and expansion data matching high-nickel NCM chemistry rather than the promised sodium-ion solid-state design. Electrek reports the company raised about $25 million from more than 1,300 mostly small investors on claims of 400 Wh/kg energy density, 100,000-cycle life, and 5-minute charging that now appear unsupported. From the report: The investigation consulted over 20 independent battery experts, including Julian Zanau from the Fraunhofer Research Institute, Dr. Yahim San from Justus-Liebig University, Tom Bicha from Leona, and Dr. Yuo Hesca from Seinajoki University of Applied Sciences. Every single one confirmed the tested cell is lithium-ion. There are two key pieces of evidence. First, the voltage curves from VTT testing match high-nickel lithium-ion cells (NCM chemistry). The cell sits at 3.7-3.8 volts at 50% state of charge -- right where lithium-ion cells operate. Sodium-ion cells don't go significantly past 3.5 volts at 50% SOC.

The second piece of evidence is even more damning: VTT's cell expansion data. When a battery charges, ions squeeze into the anode material, causing it to expand in a predictable pattern. A graphite anode produces a distinctive "kink" in the expansion curve around 50-70% state of charge, caused by how ions reorder themselves in graphite's layered structure. The Donut Lab cell shows exactly that kink.

This is critical because sodium ions are physically too large to fit into graphite layers. The graphite anode signature proves the cell uses lithium ions. The investigation puts it well: "it's like we have a slightly noisy fingerprint and a picture of the suspect's face. And yet again, it's a match." The calculated energy density? About 298 Wh/kg -- what you'd expect from a good lithium-ion cell, not the 400 Wh/kg claimed.

The investigation reveals that the battery technology traces back to CT Coatings, a German company with an "eclectic" array of patents -- including inventions for screen-printed paving slabs, menu folders, and warning triangles. CT Coatings promised Nordic Nano and Donut Lab a screen-printed sodium-ion solid-state battery. What it delivered was a lithium-ion pouch cell.

Donut Lab's 'Solid-State' Battery Exposed As Regular Li-Ion

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  • by guesstral ( 10503041 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @03:33AM (#66181680)
    Has nobody learned from Theranos? You canâ(TM)t slap a new label on old tech and call it revolutionary. Well, you can try. But thereâ(TM)ll be some angry investors out for your sprinklesâ¦
    • by Tx ( 96709 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @04:10AM (#66181704) Journal

      I assume it's the Ziroth video that's linked, I watched it yesterday. This is a little different than Theranos in that there's multiple companies involved, but yeah, fake it till you make it gone wrong once again. It sounds like at least at some point, Donut Labs genuinely believed that CT Coatings actually had a revolutionary battery tech, and would eventually be able to supply it to them, per leaked emails between the companies, and maybe the initial fakery by Donut was just trying to bridge the gap until CT Coatings delivered what they promised. However, it's also clear that as time went on, the aggressive fundraising by Donut from small investors for a product that they continued to have no proof even existed, and the continued false claims about what they actually had, became hugely problematic. Exactly who knew what when within Donut Labs and the other involved companies, and what legal thresholds may have been crossed, remains to be seen.

      • Now if I had a supplier that sold a "fake it till you make it product" to my company... and I put my reputation on it at a major show... to say I'd be pissed is an understatement. I'd probably be more in line to threaten a lawsuit and publicly excoriate them to protect my own reputation.

        Now I don't know what's going on here behind the scenes, or contractual stuff, so there may be stuff at play preventing what I described. I'd still be M-A-D as all heck at the damage it would do to my company and the thre
    • Has nobody learned from Theranos? You canâ(TM)t slap a new label on old tech and call it revolutionary. Well, you can try. But thereâ(TM)ll be some angry investors out for your sprinklesâ¦

      No, they haven't. Some of us are able to spot scams, others seem attracted to them like moths to a flame.

      Took me about 10 minutes to know Theranos was a definite scam. A product too good to be scientifically true, An attractive woman using a falsetto to make her voice deeper, an adoring public more concerned about her being the first self made woman billionaire, a board of directors with only one person involved in biology (Ex CDC) . It was political, and politics doesn't trump physics.

      Back to the soli

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @03:37AM (#66181682)

    "Fake it 'til you can make it... or at least until you can cash out" is the mantra of so many tech startups this millennium...

    • by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @05:45AM (#66181770)

      "Fake it 'til you can make it... or at least until you can cash out" is the mantra of so many tech startups this millennium...

      There isn’t an I in Sold State.

    • by dfghjk ( 711126 )

      Exactly, I would say plenty have learned from theranos, true innovation in money grabbing.

    • by Cyberpunk Reality ( 4231325 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @09:35AM (#66182040)

      Holmes *was* an outlier, in that she defrauded and embarrassed members of the ruling elite, and thus was punished for her fraud and lies. Had she done the same thing but picked her victims better, she'd have a successful and lucrative career.

      • by njvack ( 646524 ) <njvack@freshforever.net> on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @02:12PM (#66182640)

        Holmes *was* an outlier, in that she defrauded and embarrassed members of the ruling elite, and thus was punished for her fraud and lies. Had she done the same thing but picked her victims better, she'd have a successful and lucrative career.

        Once RFK Jr is out I genuinely would not be surprised to see Holmes get a pardon and HHS nomination.

        Many smart people, very smart, have been saying she's been treated very badly by the Biden and the Dumocrats, very badly indeed, it's horrible what they do to people like her. The other day, a very big man, huge muscles, big supporter, he came up to me and he said with tears in his eyes, Sir, he said, I was very sick, and he told me but I shouldn't say with what, but do you know what he did? He took just a drop of his blood, just one, teeny drop, and he gave it to Thanos and bip bop bip! Testicular cancer totally gone! And now they put her in jail, Elizabeth they call her. Holmes, like a certain, detective, maybe you've heard of Sherlock? And Mr. Watson. Like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Dr. Watson. Very famous detectives, my uncle knew them he said, they solved crimes, many, many crimes and everyone said couldn't ever be solved by anyone. He found Jack the Ripper and made him stop his crime spree. Slashing dead women and blood everywhere. People say he saved New York, and I believe it. Sherlock Holmes. So beautiful, so smart, beautiful, blue eyes, some people say she looks like Ivanka. And it's horrible conditions, they don't give her anything to eat, almost nothing at all, and she'll be there, in solitary, for 50, 60, maybe 90 years. Some people are saying maybe it's forever. She won't look like anything when she gets out, and the drops of blood, they can't save anyone. It's so unfair what they do to people like her.

  • This one contents for the Elizabeth Holmes Award of 2026!

  • by EreIamJH ( 180023 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @06:30AM (#66181788)

    When the lawyers arrive Donut will run the defence that they didn't have the intention of scamming investors, it's just that the investment failed because they believed CT's lies. CT will say that they didn't lie, but it's all a misunderstanding, and anyway, we relied on a guy we met in a bar. The directors will blame the CEO and the board papers will omit any useful details.

    Someone got the money though.

    • by src1138 ( 212903 )

      Extra sad that the money came from mostly small investors - they typically can't afford to get ripped off like this.

      If they can't get their money back, they should each get to give 3 face punches AND 3 groin kicks to the Donut Labs and CT Coatings CEOs.

  • The runaway trend of the corporate sector doubling down on various scams, lock-ins, and bait-and-switch operations long predates the Trump regime. I hope this administration is the apex of the grift, and that the whole shell game falls apart soon. But I fear that this fire won't be put out until modern civilization is a burned-out husk.

  • Welcome to the world, where everything these days is a scam. EVERYTHING.

  • Makes me feel like maybe, sometimes, you can't trust what is on teh internet tubes.

  • Version 1.0 will be the solid state version, of course!

  • No need to test voltage curves and expansion data. Take a good old fashioned saw to it, and the composition of the battery will become quite apparent.

  • by PPH ( 736903 ) on Tuesday June 09, 2026 @10:53AM (#66182220)

    ... that what they may have done is to work on screen printing technology for producing batteries. But they began by printing a LiON and passing it off as sodium. Which may have been the end goal.

    But now nobody will trust them any more. So, screwed, they are.

  • It would be nice if an "Editor" had mentioned this related story, but I guess it is from, oh, 3 days ago:

    https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/06/06/1932216/new-power-banks-released-by-bmx-with-safer-semi-solid-state-batteries
  • if you are saying you are coming up with a battery, and people ask, you need a battery.

An Ada exception is when a routine gets in trouble and says 'Beam me up, Scotty'.

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