Improving lithium-sulfur batteries with metal-organic framework-based materials

Phys.org  February 27, 2024 Practical applications of Li-S batteries (LSBs) are inhibited by their poor electrical conductivity of electrode materials, greatly volumetric variation, as well as the polysulfide formation upon the cycling. To address these problems (MOFs)-based cathode materials, and easy morphology design have been extensively studied. An international team of researchers (Japan, China) has provided a comprehensive overview of MOFs-based sulfur host materials, their electrochemical reaction mechanisms, related evaluation parameters, and their performances used in LSBs in the past few years. The recent advances using in-situ characterization technologies for investigating the electrochemical reaction mechanism in LSBs are highlighted. They […]

New water batteries stay cool under pressure

Science Daily  February 21, 2024 The sluggish ions-transfer and inhomogeneous ions-nucleation induce the formation of randomly oriented dendrites on Zn anode, while the chemical instability at anode–electrolyte interface triggers detrimental side reactions. A team of international researchers (Australia, China) designed a multifunctional hybrid interphase of Bi/Bi2O3 a novel synergistic regulation mechanism involving chemically inert interface protection mechanism suppressing side reactions, and thermodynamically favorable Zn atomic clusters dissociation mechanism impeding dendrites formation. Assisted by collaborative modulation behavior, the Zn@Bi/Bi2O3 symmetry cell delivered an ultrahigh cumulative plating capacity and ultralong lifetimes of 300 h even at high current density and depth of […]

Resource-efficient and climate-friendly with sodium-ion batteries

Science Daily  December 15, 2023 An international team of researchers (Sweden, Norway) performed a prospective life cycle assessment (LCA) of large-scale production of two different sodium-ion battery (SIB) cells with a cradle-to-gate system boundary. The SIB cells modeled have Prussian white cathodes and hard carbon anodes based only on abundant elements and thus constituted potentially preferable options to current lithium-ion battery (LIB) cells from a mineral resource. The functional unit was 1 kWh theoretical electricity storage capacity, and the specific energy density of the cells was 160 Wh/kg. For SIB cell materials, prospective inventory data was obtained from a generic […]

Efficient biohybrid batteries

Science Daily  October 31, 2023 Incorporating the latest advancements in microbial electrochemistry and electrochemical CO2 reduction, researchers in China have developed a super-fast charging biohybrid battery by using pure formic acid as an energy carrier. CO2 electrolyzer made it possible to use affordable anion exchange membranes and electrocatalysts that were readily accessible. The biohybrid battery required a 3-minute charging to accomplish 25-hour discharging phase. Bioconversion played a vital role in restricting both the overall Faradaic efficiency and Energy efficiency. The electrolyser was able to operate continuously for 164 hours under Gas Stand-By model, by storing N2 gas in the extraction […]

Liquid metal skins turned into power source for stretchable batteries and devices

Nanowerk  November 6, 2023 Liquid metals which behave like liquid at room temperature have unique mechanical and electrical properties which make them favorable for soft electronics and stretchable conductors. They form a thin oxide layer on their surface. Researchers at the Boston University have introduced a new approach where liquid metal oxide served as an electrochemical energy source. By mechanically rupturing their surface oxide, liquid metals formed a galvanic cell and converted their chemical energy to electrical energy. When dispersing liquid metals into an ionically-conductive liquid to form emulsions, this composite material provided ∼500 mV of open-circuit voltage and up […]

Cathode active materials for lithium-ion batteries could be produced at low temperatures

Science Daily   October 23, 2023 Layered LiCoO2 is usually synthesized after a prolonged sintering process at high temperatures for 10–20 h. Researchers in Japan have developed a “hydroflux process” to obtain highly crystalline and layered LiCoO2 at a low temperature within 30 min. They found that the molten mixed hydroxide-containing water molecules significantly accelerated the formation of LiCoO2, which showed a highly reversible capacity of 120 mAh g–1 without post annealing. The reaction mechanism study showed fast growth of LiCoO2 crystals suggesting that the excess molten hydroxides containing water dissolved the cobalt species of HCoO2 and suppressed the competing reaction […]

A step on the way to solid-state batteries

Nanowerk   October 24, 2023 Researchers at MIT have introduced Li-garnet Li7La3Zr2O12−d (LLZO) as a suitable ceramic due to its high Li+ conductivity and wide electrochemical stability window. However, high sintering temperatures raise concerns about the cathode interface stability, production costs, and energy consumption for scalable manufacture. They developed a “sinter-free” route to stabilize cLLZO as films at half of its sinter temperature. They established a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram which captured the amorphous-to-crystalline LLZO transformation based on crystallization enthalpy analysis and confirmed stabilization of thin-film cLLZO at record low temperatures of 500 °C. According to the researchers their findings pave the way […]

New battery holds promise for green energy

Science Daily   September 6, 2023 Lithium-based nonaqueous redox flow batteries (LRFBs) are alternative systems to conventional aqueous redox flow batteries because of their higher operating voltage and theoretical energy density. However, the use of ion-selective membranes limits the large-scale applicability of LRFBs. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have developed high-voltage membrane-free LRFBs based on an all-organic biphasic system. Under static conditions, these batteries with 0.5 M redox-active material delivered capacity retentions of 98%, 98%, and 92%, respectively, for 100 cycles over ~55 days at the current density of 1 mA/cm2 and a temperature of 27 °C. The battery delivered an initial average […]

Pixel-by-pixel analysis yields insights into lithium-ion batteries

MIT News   September 13, 2023 Reaction rates at spatially heterogeneous, unstable interfaces are difficult to quantify, yet they are essential in engineering many chemical systems, such as batteries and electrocatalysts. Experimental characterizations of such materials by operando microscopy produce rich image datasets, but data-driven methods to learn physics from these images are lacking because of the complex coupling of reaction kinetics, surface chemistry and phase separation. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Stanford University, industry, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory) showed that heterogeneous reaction kinetics can be learned from in situ scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) images of carbon-coated […]

Thin-film batteries rechargeable in just one minute

Science Daily  August 29, 2023 The power capability of Li-ion batteries has become increasingly limiting for the electrification of transport on land and in the air. The specific power of Li-ion batteries is restricted due to the required cathode thickness of a few tens of micrometers. Researchers in Switzerland have developed a design of monolithically stacked thin-film cells that had the potential to increase the power ten-fold. They demonstrated an experimental proof-of-concept consisting of two monolithically stacked thin-film cells. Each cell consisted of a silicon anode, a solid-oxide electrolyte, and a lithium cobalt oxide cathode. The battery could be cycled […]