Phys.org December 22, 2024 An international team of researchers (Canada, USA – University of Maryland, Oak Ridge National Laboratory) reported a superionic conducting, lithium-compatible and air-stable vacancy-rich β-Li3N SSE. It showed high ionic conductivity and surpassed almost all the nitride-based SSEs, had good air stability. They demonstrated their stable cycling performance with high-capacity retentions over 5,000 cycles. The lithium metal batteries successfully accomplished mild rapid charge and discharge rates up to 5.0 C, retaining 60.47% of the capacity… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
Tag Archives: Lithium battery
Chemists create gel to prevent leaks and boost lithium-ion battery life
Phys.org September 2, 2024 A key impediment for lithium battery technologies is the utilization of flammable organic solvent-based electrolytes which pose significant safety risks, and the recyclability of batteries has not reached the level required for transitioning to a circular economy. Researchers in Germany described poly(ionic liquid)-based dual network gel electrolytes as safer and sustainable alternative materials. The materials employed both, dynamic and covalent crosslinking, allowing the fabrication of mechanically stable gels with a high content (up to 65 wt%) of ionic liquid/salt both via thermal and photo polymerization. Mechanical stability, combined with enhanced ionic conductivity was achieved via the […]
Disorder improves battery life
Science Daily May 8, 2024 On charging the Li-deficient frameworks in lithium (Li)-ion cathodes become vulnerable to lattice strain and structural and/or chemo-mechanical degradation, resulting in rapid capacity deterioration and thus short battery life. Guided by fundamental principles of structural chemistry and achieved through an improved ceramic synthesis process, an international team of researchers (the Netherlands, China) developed an approach that addressed these issues using the integration of chemical short-range disorder (CSRD) into oxide cathodes, which involved the localized distribution of elements in a crystalline lattice over spatial dimensions, spanning a few nearest-neighbour spacings. They demonstrated how the introduction of […]
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 […]
Revolutionizing lithium production on a string
Science Daily September 7, 2023 A team of researchers in the US (Princeton University, University of Maryland) has developed an efficient and self-concentrating crystallization method for the selective extraction of lithium from both brine and seawater. The sequential and separable crystallization of cation species with different concentrations and solubilities was enabled by a twisted and slender 3D porous natural cellulose fibre structure via capillary and evaporative flows. The process exhibited an evaporation rate as high as 9.8 kg m−2 h−1, and it selectively concentrated lithium by orders of magnitude. They characterized the composition and spatial distribution of crystals, and a transport model deciphered […]
Tiny movements, deep inside a battery
Nanowerk April 5, 2023 Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory demonstrated lithiation gradients and electrode assembly movement during electrochemical cycling of a Li-metal cell containing a Ni–Mn–Co layered oxide cathode (NMC811). During charge, deposition of Li+ ions from the cathode increased the Li foil thickness; during discharge, the thickness decreased as Li+ ions are stripped off the foil. The resulting periodic movement was observed through tracking of Bragg peaks from the ordered phases of the cathode and separator. In addition to this 3.6 μm/mAh displacement, continuous mossy Li build-up on the anode caused an irreversible drift of the assembly, which is […]
Carbon fiber paper for longer-lasting electric vehicle batteries
Nanowerk March 27, 2023 Researchers in South Korea have designed and constructed a hierarchical surface on carbon fiber (CF) using binders in fabricated CF paper (CFP). The lightweight CF with high mechanical properties established a 3D network structure as an alternative to Cu foil. The binders were transformed into oxygen-containing amorphous carbon and sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) using a low-temperature carbonization process which to uniform Li nucleation and a stable solid electrolyte interphase layer with inorganic components. In tests CFP with amorphous carbon and Na2CO3 (ANCFP) showed a low Li nucleation overpotential and smooth dendrite-free Li plating. The ANCFP electrode exhibited […]
Stalactites and stalagmites in the battery?
Science Daily March 17, 2023 The role of grain boundaries in the nucleation and dendritic growth of metallic lithium is not yet fully understood. Researchers in Germany used operando Kelvin probe force microscopy measurements to map locally time-dependent electric potential changes in the Li6.25Al0.25La3Zr2O12 garnet-type solid electrolyte. They found that the Galvani potential dropped at grain boundaries near the lithium metal electrode during plating as a response to the preferential accumulation of electrons. Time-resolved electrostatic force microscopy measurements and quantitative analyses of lithium metal formed at the grain boundaries under electron beam irradiation supported this finding. Based on these results, […]
3D battery imaging reveals the secret real-time life of lithium metal cells
Science Daily March 9, 2023 An international team of researchers (Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland) succeeded in observing how the lithium metal in the cell behaves as it charges and discharges. They developed an operando synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy method capable of probing in real-time the formation, growth, and dissolution of Li microstructures during the cycling of a Li||Cu cell containing a standard non-aqueous liquid electrolyte solution. This enabled tracking the evolution of deposited Li metal as a function of time and applied current density and distinguishing the formation of electrochemically inactive Li from the active bulk of Li microstructures. Now the […]
New design for lithium-air battery could offer much longer driving range compared with the lithium-ion battery
Science Daily February 22, 2023 Lithium-air batteries have scope to compete with gasoline in terms of energy density. However, in most systems, the reaction pathways either involve one- or two-electron transfer, leading to lithium peroxide (Li2O2) or lithium superoxide (LiO2), respectively. A team of researchers in the US (Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois University) used a composite polymer electrolyte based on Li10GeP2S12 nanoparticles embedded in a modified polyethylene oxide polymer matrix. They found that Li2O is the main product in a room temperature solid-state lithium-air battery. The battery was rechargeable for 1000 cycles with a low polarization […]