Li Hong first proposed high-capacity nano-Si negative electrode materials in the world in 1997, applied for the first invention patent, and published the first article on nano-silicon negative electrode materials internationally in 1999. In 2005, he proposed a comprehensive solution for the nano-silicon negative electrode with a Yuanxiao structure, which was selected for the "National 15th Major Science and Technology Achievement Exhibition". Nano-silicon negative electrode materials began to obtain a series of core material patents in 1997, and after 20 years of research and technology transfer, they began to be industrialized in Jiangsu Liyang Tianmu Pioneer Battery Materials Co., Ltd. in 2017. He proposed and developed hybrid solid-liquid electrolyte batteries and all-solid-state battery technologies based on in-situ solidification technology, and promoted the development of lithium-ion battery failure analysis technology and high-throughput computing technology.

At present, the main research directions are key materials and battery technologies for high-energy-density lithium-ion batteries, solid-state lithium batteries, battery failure analysis, and solid ionics. He has co-published 380 SCI papers, cited more than 27,000 times, and an H-index of 84. He has applied for more than 100 Chinese invention patents and has been granted more than 50 Chinese invention patents.

He is currently a researcher at the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, working in the E01 group. He is a subject expert in the energy storage sub-field of the Ministry of Science and Technology's advanced energy field, a responsible expert for the key special project of smart grid technology and equipment of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and a technical expert at the National New Energy Vehicle Innovation Center. He is a winner of the National Outstanding Youth Science Fund. He is the person in charge of the special power battery project of the National Key R&D Program for New Energy Vehicle Pilot, the key project of solid-state batteries of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and the key project of solid-state batteries of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He co-founded Beijing Weilan New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Liyang Tianmu Pioneer Battery Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Zhongke Haina Technology Co., Ltd., Tianmu Lake Advanced Energy Storage Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., and Yangtze River Delta Physics Research Center Co., Ltd.