Glassy Li metal anode for high-performance rechargeable Li batteries
Source abstract
Abstract
Lithium metal has been considered an ideal anode for high-energy rechargeable Li batteries, although its nucleation and growth process remains mysterious, especially at the nanoscale. Here, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy was used to reveal the evolving nanostructure of Li metal deposits at various transient states in the nucleation and growth process, in which a disorder-order phase transition was observed as a function of current density and deposition time. The atomic interaction over wide spatial and temporal scales was depicted by reactive molecular dynamics simulations to assist in understanding the kinetics. Compared to crystalline Li, glassy Li outperforms in electrochemical reversibility, and it has a desired structure for high-energy rechargeable Li batteries. Our findings correlate the crystallinity of the nuclei with the subsequent growth of the nanostructure and morphology, and provide strategies to control and shape the mesostructure of Li metal to achieve high performance in rechargeable Li batteries.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advancements in Battery Materials · Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies · Inorganic Chemistry and Materials
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (38)
Show source-provided references
1. Steiger, J., Kramer, D. & Mönig, R. Mechanisms of dendritic growth investigated by in situ light microscopy during electrodeposition and dissolution of lithium. J. Power Sources 261, 112–119 (2014).10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.03.029 ↗
2. Wood, K. N. et al. Dendrites and pits: untangling the complex behavior of lithium metal anodes through operando video microscopy. ACS Cent. Sci. 2, 790–801 (2016).10.1021/acscentsci.6b00260 ↗
3. Cohen, Y. S., Cohen, Y. & Aurbach, D. Micromorphological studies of lithium electrodes in alkyl carbonate solutions using in situ atomic force microscopy. J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 12282–12291 (2000).10.1021/jp002526b ↗
4. Mogi, R., Inaba, M., Iriyama, Y., Abe, T. & Ogumi, Z. In situ atomic force microscopy study on lithium deposition on nickel substrates at elevated temperatures. J. Electrochem. Soc. 149, A385–A390 (2002).10.1149/1.1454138 ↗
5. Orsini, F. et al. In situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation of interfaces within plastic lithium batteries. J. Power Sources 76, 19–29 (1998).10.1016/S0378-7753(98)00128-1 ↗
6. Cheng, J.-H. et al. Visualization of lithium plating and stripping via in operando transmission X-ray microscopy. J. Phys. Chem. C 121, 7761–7766 (2017).10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b01414 ↗
7. Kushima, A. et al. Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy observation of lithium metal growth and dissolution: root growth, dead lithium and lithium flotsams. Nano Energy 32, 271–279 (2017).10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.12.001 ↗
8. Li, Y. et al. Atomic structure of sensitive battery materials and interfaces revealed by cryo–electron microscopy. Science 358, 506–510 (2017).10.1126/science.aam6014 ↗
9. Wang, X. et al. New insights on the structure of electrochemically deposited lithium metal and its solid electrolyte interphases via cryogenic TEM. Nano Lett. 17, 7606–7612 (2017).10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03606 ↗
10. Dubrovskii, V. in Nucleation Theory and Growth of Nanostructures 1–73 (Springer, 2014).10.1007/978-3-642-39660-1_1 ↗
11. Scharifker, B. R. & Mostany, J. in Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry 512–539 (Wiley, 2007).
12. Ely, D. R., Jana, A. & García, R. E. Phase field kinetics of lithium electrodeposits. J. Power Sources 272, 581–594 (2014).10.1016/j.jpowsour.2014.08.062 ↗
13. Ely, D. R. & García, R. E. Heterogeneous nucleation and growth of lithium electrodeposits on negative electrodes. J. Electrochem. Soc. 160, A662–A668 (2013).10.1149/1.057304jes ↗
14. Akolkar, R. Modeling dendrite growth during lithium electrodeposition at sub-ambient temperature. J. Power Sources 246, 84–89 (2014).10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.07.056 ↗
15. Akolkar, R. Mathematical model of the dendritic growth during lithium electrodeposition. J. Power Sources 232, 23–28 (2013).10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.01.014 ↗
16. Chazalviel, J. N. Electrochemical aspects of the generation of ramified metallic electrodeposits. Phys. Rev. A 42, 7355–7367 (1990).10.1103/PhysRevA.42.7355 ↗
17. Wang, X., Li, Y. & Meng, Y. S. Cryogenic electron microscopy for characterizing and diagnosing batteries. Joule 2, 2225–2234 (2018).10.1016/j.joule.2018.10.005 ↗
18. Wang, F. et al. Chemical distribution and bonding of lithium in intercalated graphite: identification with optimized electron energy loss spectroscopy. ACS Nano 5, 1190–1197 (2011).10.1021/nn1028168 ↗
19. Loh, N. D. et al. Multistep nucleation of nanocrystals in aqueous solution. Nat. Chem. 9, 77–82 (2017).10.1038/nchem.2618 ↗
20. Yang, J. et al. Amorphous-phase-mediated crystallization of Ni nanocrystals revealed by high-resolution liquid-phase electron microscopy. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 141, 763–768 (2019).10.1021/jacs.8b11972 ↗
21. Liao, H.-G., Cui, L., Whitelam, S. & Zheng, H. Real-time imaging of Pt3Fe nanorod growth in solution. Science 336, 1011–1014 (2012).10.1126/science.1219185 ↗
22. Wittig, J. E., Bentley, J. & Allard, L. F. In situ investigation of ordering phase transformations in FePt magnetic nanoparticles. Ultramicroscopy 176, 218–232 (2017).10.1016/j.ultramic.2016.11.025 ↗
23. Chi, M. et al. Surface faceting and elemental diffusion behaviour at atomic scale for alloy nanoparticles during in situ annealing. Nat. Commun. 6, 8925 (2015).10.1038/ncomms9925 ↗
24. van Duin, A. C. T., Dasgupta, S., Lorant, F. & Goddard, W. A. ReaxFF: a reactive force field for hydrocarbons. J. Phys. Chem. A 105, 9396–9409 (2001).10.1021/jp004368u ↗
25. Plimpton, S., Crozier, P. & Thompson, A. LAMMPS-large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator. Sandia Natl Laboratories 18, 43 (2007).
26. Majure, D. L. et al. Large-scale atomic/molecular massively parallel simulator (LAMMPS) simulations of the effects of chirality and diameter on the pullout force in a carbon nanotube bundle. In 2008 DoD HPCMP Users Group Conference 201–207 (IEEE, 2008).10.1109/DoD.HPCMP.UGC.2008.76 ↗
27. Stukowski, A. Visualization and analysis of atomistic simulation data with OVITO–the open visualization tool. Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 18, 015012 (2009).10.1088/0965-0393/18/1/015012 ↗
28. Onofrio, N. & Strachan, A. Voltage equilibration for reactive atomistic simulations of electrochemical processes. J. Chem. Phys. 143, 054109 (2015).10.1063/1.4927562 ↗
29. Jensen, B. D., Wise, K. E. & Odegard, G. M. The effect of time step, thermostat, and strain rate on ReaxFF simulations of mechanical failure in diamond, graphene, and carbon nanotube. J. Comput. Chem. 36, 1587–1596 (2015).10.1002/jcc.23970 ↗
30. Cui, Z., Gao, F., Cui, Z. & Qu, J. Developing a second nearest-neighbor modified embedded atom method interatomic potential for lithium. Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 20, 015014 (2011).10.1088/0965-0393/20/1/015014 ↗
31. Stukowski, A. Structure identification methods for atomistic simulations of crystalline materials. Model. Simul. Mater. Sci. Eng. 20, 045021 (2012).10.1088/0965-0393/20/4/045021 ↗
32. Baldan, A. Review progress in Ostwald ripening theories and their applications to nickel-base superalloys part I: Ostwald ripening theories. J. Mater. Sci. 37, 2171–2202 (2002).10.1023/A:1015388912729 ↗
33. Nanev, C. N. in Handbook of Crystal Growth 2nd edn, 315–358 (Elsevier, 2015).10.1016/B978-0-444-56369-9.00007-1 ↗
34. Karthika, S., Radhakrishnan, T. K. & Kalaichelvi, P. A review of classical and nonclassical nucleation theories. Cryst. Growth Des. 16, 6663–6681 (2016).10.1021/acs.cgd.6b00794 ↗
35. Greer, A. L. Metallic glasses. Science 267, 1947–1953 (1995).10.1126/science.267.5206.1947 ↗
36. Jafary-Zadeh, M. et al. A critical review on metallic glasses as structural materials for cardiovascular stent applications. J. Funct. Biomater. 9, 19 (2018).10.3390/jfb9010019 ↗
37. Chen, M. A brief overview of bulk metallic glasses. NPG Asia Mater. 3, 82–90 (2011).
38. Khan, M. M. et al. Recent advancements in bulk metallic glasses and their applications: a review. Crit. Rev. Solid State Mater. Sci. 43, 233–268 (2018).10.1080/10408436.2017.1358149 ↗