Self-smoothing anode for achieving high-energy lithium metal batteries under realistic conditions
Source abstract
Abstract
Despite considerable efforts to stabilize lithium metal anode structures and prevent dendrite formation, achieving long cycling life in high-energy batteries under realistic conditions remains extremely difficult due to a combination of complex failure modes that involve accelerated anode degradation and the depletion of electrolyte and lithium metal. Here we report a self-smoothing lithium-carbon anode structure based on mesoporous carbon nanofibres, which, coupled with a lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide cathode with a high nickel content, can lead to a cell-level energy density of 350-380 Wh kg-1 (counting all the active and inactive components) and a stable cycling life up to 200 cycles. These performances are achieved under the realistic conditions required for practical high-energy rechargeable lithium metal batteries: cathode loading ≥4.0 mAh cm-2, negative to positive electrode capacity ratio ≤2 and electrolyte weight to cathode capacity ratio ≤3 g Ah-1. The high stability of our anode is due to the amine functionalization and the mesoporous carbon structures that favour smooth lithium deposition.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advancements in Battery Materials · Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies · Advanced Battery Technologies Research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (55)
Show source-provided references
1. Grey, C. P. & Tarascon, J. M. Sustainability and in situ monitoring in battery development. Nat. Mater. 16, 45–56 (2017).10.1038/nmat4777 ↗
2. Xu, W. et al. Lithium metal anodes for rechargeable batteries. Energy Environ. Sci. 7, 513–537 (2014).10.1039/C3EE40795K ↗
3. Zheng, J. et al. Electrolyte additive enabled fast charging and stable cycling lithium metal batteries. Nat. Energy 2, 17012 (2017).10.1038/nenergy.2017.12 ↗
4. Lu, Y., Tu, Z. & Archer, L. A. Stable lithium electrodeposition in liquid and nanoporous solid electrolytes. Nat. Mater. 13, 961–969 (2014).10.1038/nmat4041 ↗
5. Bouchet, R. Batteries: a stable lithium metal interface. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 572–573 (2014).10.1038/nnano.2014.165 ↗
6. Liu, Y. et al. Lithium-coated polymeric matrix as a minimum volume-change and dendrite-free lithium metal anode. Nat. Commun. 7, 10992 (2016).10.1038/ncomms10992 ↗
7. Huang, Z. et al. Protecting the Li-metal anode in a Li–O2 battery by using boric acid as an SEI-forming additive. Adv. Mater. 30, 1803270 (2018).10.1002/adma.201803270 ↗
8. Lee, S. W. et al. High-power lithium batteries from functionalized carbon-nanotube electrodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 5, 531–537 (2010).10.1038/nnano.2010.116 ↗
9. Li, L. et al. Self-heating-induced healing of lithium dendrites. Science 359, 1513–1516 (2018).10.1126/science.aap8787 ↗
10. Ding, F. et al. Dendrite-free lithium deposition via self-healing electrostatic shield mechanism. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 4450–4456 (2013).10.1021/ja312241y ↗
11. Dudney, N. J. & Li, J. Using all energy in a battery. Science 347, 131–132 (2015).10.1126/science.aaa2870 ↗
12. Han, X. et al. Negating interfacial impedance in garnet-based solid-state Li metal batteries. Nat. Mater. 16, 572 (2017).10.1038/nmat4821 ↗
13. Manthiram, A., Yu, X. & Wang, S. Lithium battery chemistries enabled by solid-state electrolytes. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 16103 (2017).10.1038/natrevmats.2016.103 ↗
14. Choudhury, S., Mangal, R., Agrawal, A. & Archer, L. A. A highly reversible room-temperature lithium metal battery based on crosslinked hairy nanoparticles. Nat. Commun. 6, 10101 (2015).10.1038/ncomms10101 ↗
15. Yu, D. et al. Scalable synthesis of hierarchically structured carbon nanotube–graphene fibres for capacitive energy storage. Nat. Nanotechnol. 9, 555–562 (2014).10.1038/nnano.2014.93 ↗
16. Ye, H. et al. J. Stable Li plating/stripping electrochemistry realized by a hybrid Li reservoir in spherical carbon granules with 3D conducting skeletons. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139, 5916–5922 (2017).10.1021/jacs.7b01763 ↗
17. Liang, Z. et al. Composite lithium metal anode by melt infusion of lithium into a 3D conducting scaffold with lithiophilic coating. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 2862–2867 (2016).10.1073/pnas.1518188113 ↗
18. Zhang, R. et al. Coralloid carbon fiber-based composite lithium anode for robust lithium metal batteries. Joule 2, 764–777 (2018).10.1016/j.joule.2018.02.001 ↗
19. Liu, L. et al. Uniform lithium nucleation/growth induced by lightweight nitrogen doped graphitic carbon foams for high performance lithium metal anodes. Adv. Mater. 30, 1706216 (2018).10.1002/adma.201706216 ↗
20. Ye, H., Xin, S., Yin, Y. X. & Guo, Y. G. Advanced porous carbon materials for high-efficient lithium metal anodes. Adv. Energy Mater. 7, 1700530 (2017).10.1002/aenm.201700530 ↗
21. Wang, T. et al. Ultrafast charging high capacity asphalt–lithium metal batteries. ACS Nano 11, 10761–10767 (2017).10.1021/acsnano.7b05874 ↗
22. Liu, Y. M. et al. Oxygen and nitrogen co-doped porous carbon granules enabling dendrite-free lithium metal anode. Energy Storage Mater. 18, 320–327 (2019).10.1016/j.ensm.2018.08.018 ↗
23. Zhang, H., Yu, X. & Braun, P. V. Three-dimensional bicontinuous ultrafast-charge and -discharge bulk battery electrodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 6, 277–281 (2011).10.1038/nnano.2011.38 ↗
24. Huang, S., Tang, L., Najafabadi, H. S., Chen, S. & Ren, Z. A highly flexible semi-tubular carbon film for stable lithium metal anodes in high-performance batteries. Nano Energy 38, 504–509 (2017).10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.06.030 ↗
25. Zhang, Y. et al. High-capacity, low-tortuosity, and channel-guided lithium metal anode. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 114, 3584–3589 (2017).10.1073/pnas.1618871114 ↗
26. Matsuda, S., Kubo, Y., Uosaki, K. & Nakanishi, S. Lithium-metal deposition/dissolution within internal space of CNT 3D matrix results in prolonged cycle of lithium-metal negative electrode. Carbon 119, 119–123 (2017).10.1016/j.carbon.2017.04.032 ↗
27. Lin, D. et al. Layered reduced graphene oxide with nanoscale interlayer gaps as a stable host for lithium metal anodes. Nat. Nanotechnol. 11, 626–632 (2016).10.1038/nnano.2016.32 ↗
28. Raji, A. R. O. et al. Lithium batteries with nearly maximum metal storage. ACS Nano 11, 6362–6369 (2017).10.1021/acsnano.7b02731 ↗
29. Zhang, H. et al. Lithiophilic–lithiophobic gradient interfacial layer for a highly stable lithium metal anode. Nat. Commun. 9, 3729 (2018).10.1038/s41467-018-06126-z ↗
30. Fu, K. et al. Flexible, solid-state, ion-conducting membrane with 3D garnet nanofiber networks for lithium batteries. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 113, 7094–7099 (2016).10.1073/pnas.1600422113 ↗
31. Yang, C. P., Yin, Y. X., Zhang, S. F., Li, N. W. & Guo, Y. G. Accommodating lithium into 3D current collectors with a submicron skeleton towards long-life lithium metal anodes. Nat. Commun. 6, 8058 (2015).10.1038/ncomms9058 ↗
32. Li, W., Li, M., Wang, M., Zeng, L. & Yu, Y. Electrospinning with partially carbonization in air: highly porous carbon nanofibers optimized for high-performance flexible lithium-ion batteries. Nano Energy 13, 693–701 (2015).10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.03.027 ↗
33. Gireaud, L., Grugeon, S., Laruelle, S., Yrieix, B. & Tarascon, J. M. Lithium metal stripping/plating mechanisms studies: a metallurgical approach. Electrochem. Commun. 8, 1639–1649 (2006).10.1016/j.elecom.2006.07.037 ↗
34. Sano, H., Sakaebe, H., Senoh, H. & Matsumoto, H. Effect of current density on morphology of lithium electrodeposited in ionic liquid-based electrolytes. J. Electrochem. Soc. 161, A1236–A1240 (2014).10.1149/2.0331409jes ↗
35. Brissot, C., Rosso, M., Chazalviel, J. N. & Lascaud, S. Dendritic growth mechanisms in lithium/polymer cells. J. Power Sources 81, 925–929 (1999).10.1016/S0378-7753(98)00242-0 ↗
36. Liu, Y. et al. Making Li-metal electrodes rechargeable by controlling the dendrite growth direction. Nat. Energy 2, 17083 (2017).10.1038/nenergy.2017.83 ↗
37. Harry, K. J., Hallinan, D. T., Parkinson, D. Y., MacDowell, A. A. & Balsara, N. P. Detection of subsurface structures underneath dendrites formed on cycled lithium metal electrodes. Nat. Mater. 13, 69–73 (2014).10.1038/nmat3793 ↗
38. Chen, K. H. et al. Dead lithium: mass transport effects on voltage, capacity, and failure of lithium metal anodes. J. Mater. Chem. A 5, 11671–11681 (2017).10.1039/C7TA00371D ↗
39. Jiao, S. H. et al. Behavior of lithium metal anodes under various capacity utilization and high current density in lithium metal batteries. Joule 2, 1–15 (2018).10.1016/j.joule.2017.10.007 ↗
40. Wu, B., Lochala, J., Taverne, T. & Xiao, J. The interplay between solid electrolyte interface (SEI) and dendritic lithium growth. Nano Energy 40, 34–41 (2017).10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.08.005 ↗
41. 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 ↗
42. Lu, D. et al. Failure mechanism for fast-charged lithium metal batteries with liquid electrolytes. Adv. Energy Mater. 5, 1400993 (2015).10.1002/aenm.201400993 ↗
43. Kim, M. S. et al. Langmuir–Blodgett artificial solid-electrolyte interphases for practical lithium metal batteries. Nat. Energy 3, 889–898 (2018).10.1038/s41560-018-0237-6 ↗
44. Niu, C. J. et al. General synthesis of complex nanotubes by gradient electrospinning and controlled pyrolysis. Nat. Commun. 6, 7402 (2015).10.1038/ncomms8402 ↗
45. Otitoju, T. A., Ahmad, A. L. & Ooi, B. S. Superhydrophilic (superwetting) surface: a review on fabrication and application. J. Ind. Eng. Chem. 47, 19–40 (2017).10.1016/j.jiec.2016.12.016 ↗
46. Drelich, J., Chibowski, E., Meng, D. D. & Terpilowski, K. Hydrophilic and superhydrophilic surfaces and materials. Soft Matter 7, 9804–9828 (2011).10.1039/c1sm05849e ↗
47. Lopez, J. et al. Effects of polymer coatings on electrodeposited lithium metal. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140, 11735–11744 (2018).10.1021/jacs.8b06047 ↗
48. Zheng, F., Yang, Y. & Chen, Q. High lithium anodic performance of highly nitrogen-doped porous carbon prepared from a metal–organic framework. Nat. Commun. 5, 5261 (2014).10.1038/ncomms6261 ↗
49. Ichikawa, T., Hanada, N., Isobe, S., Leng, H. & Fujii, H. Mechanism of novel reaction from LiNH2 and LiH to Li2NH and H2 as a promising hydrogen storage system. J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 7887–7892 (2004).10.1021/jp049968y ↗
50. Janot, R., Eymery, J. B. & Tarascon, J. M. Decomposition of LiAl(NH2)4 and reaction with LiH for a possible reversible hydrogen storage. J. Phys. Chem. C 111, 2335–2340 (2007).10.1021/jp065801o ↗
51. Li, Z. et al. Mechanochemistry of lithium nitride under hydrogen gas. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17, 21927 (2015).10.1039/C5CP02812D ↗
52. Christenson, H. K. Two-step crystal nucleation via capillary condensation. CrystEngComm 15, 2030–2039 (2013).10.1039/c3ce26887j ↗
53. Sun, Y. K. et al. High-energy cathode material for long-life and safe lithium batteries. Nat. Mater. 8, 320 (2009).10.1038/nmat2418 ↗
54. Sun, Y. K. et al. Nanostructured high-energy cathode materials for advanced lithium batteries. Nat. Mater. 11, 942 (2012).10.1038/nmat3435 ↗
55. Kimura, N. et al. Cycle deterioration analysis of 0.6 Ah-class lithium-ion cells with cell chemistry of LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2-based/graphite. J. Power Sources 332, 187–192 (2016).10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.09.081 ↗