(Yicai Global) March 1 -- Scientists from Fudan University, one of China's top higher education institutions, have developed a new lithium battery that can be used at minus 70 degrees Celsius. The new battery is expected to be used in extremely cold areas and even in outer space in the future.

The team used ethyl acetate, as well as special electrode materials, with very low freezing point in developing the lithium battery, the state-owned Xinhua News Agency reported. Professor Xia Yongyao's team from the university have published their research results in the latest issue of the U.S. academic energy journal Joule.

The ethyl acetate electrolyte and organic polymer electrodes enable the battery work at extremely low temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius, while the performance of traditional lithium batteries at minus 20 degrees Celsius will drop by 50 percent, and it will decline to 12 percent at minus 40 degrees Celsius, said professor Xia.

Compared with traditional lithium batteries, the new battery's materials are cheaper and eco-friendlier and cost only one-third of the former, Xia added. However, the new battery's energy density is not as good as the existing commercialized lithium batteries, thus its production process needs to be optimized, he said.