Conspectus The development of next-generation lithium-based rechargeable batteries with high energy density, low cost, and improved safety is a great challenge with profound technological ...significance for portable electronics, electric vehicles, and grid-scale energy storage. Specifically, advanced lithium battery chemistries call for a paradigm shift to electrodes with high Li to host ratio based on a conversion or alloying mechanism, where the increased capacity is often accompanied by drastic volumetric changes, significant bond breaking, limited electronic/ionic conductivity, and unstable electrode/electrolyte interphase. Fortunately, the rapid progress of nanotechnology over the past decade has been offering battery researchers effective means to tackle some of the most pressing issues for next-generation battery chemistries. The major applications of nanotechnology in batteries can be summarized as follows: First, by reduction of the dimensions of the electrode materials, the cracking threshold of the material upon lithiation can be overcome, at the same time facilitating electron/ion transport within the electrode. Second, nanotechnology also provides powerful methods to generate various surface-coating and functionalization layers on electrode materials, protecting them from side reactions in the battery environment. Finally, nanotechnology gives people the flexibility to engineer each and every single component within a battery (separator, current collector, etc.), bringing novel functions to batteries that are unachievable by conventional methods. Thus, this Account aims to highlight the crucial role of nanotechnology in advanced battery systems. Because of the limited space, we will mainly assess representative examples of rational nanomaterials design with complexity for silicon and lithium metal anodes, which have shown great promise in constraining their large volume changes and the repeated solid–electrolyte interphase formation during cycling. Noticeably, the roadmap delineating the gradual improvement of silicon anodes with a span of 11 generations of materials designs developed in our group is discussed in order to reflect how nanotechnology could guide battery research step by step toward practical applications. Subsequently, we summarize efforts to construct nanostructured composite sulfur cathodes with improved electronic conductivity and effective soluble species encapsulation for maximizing the utilization of active material, cycle life, and system efficiency. We emphasize carbon-based materials and, importantly, materials with polar surfaces for sulfur entrapment. We then briefly discuss nanomaterials strategies to improve the ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolytes by means of incorporating high-surface-area and, importantly, high-aspect-ratio secondary-phase fillers for continuous, low-tortuosity ionic transport pathways. Finally, critical innovations that have been brought to the area of grid-scale energy storage and battery safety by nanotechnology are also succinctly reviewed.
Nanomaterials provide many desirable properties for electrochemical energy storage devices due to their nanoscale size effect, which could be significantly different from bulk or micron-sized ...materials. Particularly, confined dimensions play important roles in determining the properties of nanomaterials, such as the kinetics of ion diffusion, the magnitude of strain/stress, and the utilization of active materials. Nanowires, as one of the representative one-dimensional nanomaterials, have great capability for realizing a variety of applications in the fields of energy storage since they could maintain electron transport along the long axis and have a confinement effect across the diameter. In this review, we give a systematic overview of the state-of-the-art research progress on nanowires for electrochemical energy storage, from rational design and synthesis, in situ structural characterizations, to several important applications in energy storage including lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors. The problems and limitations in electrochemical energy storage and the advantages in utilizing nanowires to address the issues and improve the device performance are pointed out. At the end, we also discuss the challenges and demonstrate the prospective for the future development of advanced nanowire-based energy storage devices.
Research on lithium (Li) metal chemistry has been rapidly gaining momentum nowadays not only because of the appealing high theoretical capacity, but also its indispensable role in the next-generation ...Li–S and Li–air batteries. However, two root problems of Li metal, namely high reactivity and infinite relative volume change during cycling, bring about numerous other challenges that impede its practical applications. In the past, extensive studies have targeted these two root causes by either improving interfacial stability or constructing a stable host. However, efficient surface passivation on three-dimensional (3D) Li is still absent. Here, we develop a conformal LiF coating technique on Li surface with commercial Freon R134a as the reagent. In contrast to solid/liquid reagents, gaseous Freon exhibits not only nontoxicity and well-controlled reactivity, but also much better permeability that enables a uniform LiF coating even on 3D Li. By applying a LiF coating onto 3D layered Li-reduced graphene oxide (Li-rGO) electrodes, highly reduced side reactions and enhanced cycling stability without overpotential augment for over 200 cycles were proven in symmetric cells. Furthermore, Li–S cells with LiF protected Li-rGO exhibit significantly improved cyclability and Coulombic efficiency, while excellent rate capability (∼800 mAh g–1 at 2 C) can still be retained.
Perspiration evaporation plays an indispensable role in human body heat dissipation. However, conventional textiles tend to focus on sweat removal and pay little attention to the basic ...thermoregulation function of sweat, showing limited evaporation ability and cooling efficiency in moderate/profuse perspiration scenarios. Here, we propose an integrated cooling (i-Cool) textile with unique functional structure design for personal perspiration management. By integrating heat conductive pathways and water transport channels decently, i-Cool exhibits enhanced evaporation ability and high sweat evaporative cooling efficiency, not merely liquid sweat wicking function. In the steady-state evaporation test, compared to cotton, up to over 100% reduction in water mass gain ratio, and 3 times higher skin power density increment for every unit of sweat evaporation are demonstrated. Besides, i-Cool shows about 3 °C cooling effect with greatly reduced sweat consumption than cotton in the artificial sweating skin test. The practical application feasibility of i-Cool design principles is well validated based on commercial fabrics. Owing to its exceptional personal perspiration management performance, we expect the i-Cool concept can provide promising design guidelines for next-generation perspiration management textiles.
A bifunctional separator modified by black‐phosphorus nanoflakes is prepared to overcome the challenges associated with the polysulfide diffusion in lithium–sulfur batteries. It brings the benefits ...of the entrapment of various sulfur species via the strong binding energy and re‐activation of the trapped sulfur species due to its high electron conductivity as well as Li‐ion diffusivity.
The recycling of spent lithium-ion batteries is an effective approach to alleviating environmental concerns and promoting resource conservation. LiFePO
batteries have been widely used in electric ...vehicles and energy storage stations. Currently, lithium loss, resulting in formation of Fe(III) phase, is mainly responsible for the capacity fade of LiFePO
cathode. Another factor is poor electrical conductivity that limits its rate capability. Here, we report the use of a multifunctional organic lithium salt (3,4-dihydroxybenzonitrile dilithium) to restore spent LiFePO
cathode by direct regeneration. The degraded LiFePO
particles are well coupled with the functional groups of the organic lithium salt, so that lithium fills vacancies and cyano groups create a reductive atmosphere to inhibit Fe(III) phase. At the same time, pyrolysis of the salt produces an amorphous conductive carbon layer that coats the LiFePO
particles, which improves Li-ion and electron transfer kinetics. The restored LiFePO
cathode shows good cycling stability and rate performance (a high capacity retention of 88% after 400 cycles at 5 C). This lithium salt can also be used to recover degraded transition metal oxide-based cathodes. A techno-economic analysis suggests that this strategy has higher environmental and economic benefits, compared with the traditional recycling methods.
Accelerated conversion by catalysis is a promising way to inhibit shuttling of soluble polysulfides in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, but most of the reported catalysts work only for one direction ...sulfur reaction (reduction or oxidation), which is still not a root solution since fast cycled use of sulfur species is not finally realized. A bidirectional catalyst design, oxide–sulfide heterostructure, is proposed to accelerate both reduction of soluble polysulfides and oxidation of insoluble discharge products (e.g., Li2S), indicating a fundamental way for improving both the cycling stability and sulfur utilization. Typically, a TiO2–Ni3S2 heterostructure is prepared by in situ growing TiO2 nanoparticles on Ni3S2 surface and the intimately bonded interfaces are the key for bidirectional catalysis. For reduction, TiO2 traps while Ni3S2 catalytically converts polysulfides. For oxidation, TiO2 and Ni3S2 both show catalytic activity for Li2S dissolution, refreshing the catalyst surface. The produced sulfur cathode with TiO2–Ni3S2 delivers a low capacity decay of 0.038% per cycle for 900 cycles at 0.5C and specially, with a sulfur loading of 3.9 mg cm−2, achieves a high capacity retention of 65% over 500 cycles at 0.3C. This work unlocks how a bidirectional catalyst works for boosting Li–S batteries approaching practical uses.
A lithium–sulfur battery with long cycling stability is assembled with a specially designed bidirectional catalyst. The TiO2–Ni3S2 heterostructured catalyst realizes the smooth trapping–diffusion–conversion of polysulfides in the reduction process. The two components show catalytic activity toward the oxidation of Li2S. Thus, the shuttle effect and the formation of dead sulfides are effectively suppressed.
The detrimental shuttle effect in lithium–sulfur batteries mainly results from the mobility of soluble polysulfide intermediates and their sluggish conversion kinetics. Herein, presented is a ...multifunctional catalyst with the merits of strong polysulfides adsorption ability, superior polysulfides conversion activity, high specific surface area, and electron conductivity by in situ crafting of the TiO2‐MXene (Ti3C2Tx) heterostructures. The uniformly distributed TiO2 on MXene sheets act as capturing centers to immobilize polysulfides, the hetero‐interface ensures rapid diffusion of anchored polysulfides from TiO2 to MXene, and the oxygen‐terminated MXene surface is endowed with high catalytic activity toward polysulfide conversion. The improved lithium–sulfur batteries deliver 800 mAh g−1 at 2 C and an ultralow capacity decay of 0.028% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 2 C. Even with a high sulfur loading of 5.1 mg cm−2, the capacity retention of 93% after 200 cycles is still maintained. This work sheds new insights into the design of high‐performance catalysts with manipulated chemical components and tailored surface chemistry to regulate polysulfides in Li–S batteries.
An in situ built TiO2‐MXene heterostructure through partial oxidation of Ti3C2Tx
nanosheets combines the advantages of large surface area, strong polysulfides capturing ability, high electrocatalytic activity, and conductivity, which enable enhanced capture and catalytic conversion of polysulfides. Consequently, high sulfur mass loading (5.1 mg cm−2) cathodes with heterostructure‐graphene interlayers deliver high sulfur utilization and stable cycling performance.
Lithium-sulfur batteries have attracted attention due to their six-fold specific energy compared with conventional lithium-ion batteries. Dissolution of lithium polysulfides, volume expansion of ...sulfur and uncontrollable deposition of lithium sulfide are three of the main challenges for this technology. State-of-the-art sulfur cathodes based on metal-oxide nanostructures can suppress the shuttle-effect and enable controlled lithium sulfide deposition. However, a clear mechanistic understanding and corresponding selection criteria for the oxides are still lacking. Herein, various nonconductive metal-oxide nanoparticle-decorated carbon flakes are synthesized via a facile biotemplating method. The cathodes based on magnesium oxide, cerium oxide and lanthanum oxide show enhanced cycling performance. Adsorption experiments and theoretical calculations reveal that polysulfide capture by the oxides is via monolayered chemisorption. Moreover, we show that better surface diffusion leads to higher deposition efficiency of sulfide species on electrodes. Hence, oxide selection is proposed to balance optimization between sulfide-adsorption and diffusion on the oxides.
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