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Nano Research 2023, 16(6): 8321-8328 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5018-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 03 October 2022

Interfacial high-concentration electrolyte for stable lithium metal anode: Theory, design, and demonstration

Show Author's Information Haotian Lu1,2,3,4,  Chunpeng Yang2,3( ),  Feifei Wang1,2,3,4,  Lu Wang1,2,3,4,  Jinghong Zhou5,  Wei Chen1,4,  Quan-Hong Yang1,2,3( )
Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Fuzhou 350207, China
Nanoyang Group, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
State-Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science of Technology, Shanghai 200237, China
Keywords:
lithium metal anode, dendrite growth, interfacial high-concentration electrolyte, surface negative charge
Topics:
Lithium batteries
Cite this article:
Lu H, Yang C, Wang F, et al. Interfacial high-concentration electrolyte for stable lithium metal anode: Theory, design, and demonstration. Nano Research, 2023, 16(6): 8321-8328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5018-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Lithium metal anodes hold great potential for high-energy-density secondary batteries. However, the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth causes poor cycling efficiency and severe safety concerns, hindering lithium metal anode from practical application. Electrolyte components play important roles in suppressing lithium dendrite growth and improving the electrochemical performance of long-life lithium metal anode, and it is still challenging to effectively compromise the advantages of the conventional electrolyte (1 mol·L−1 salts) and high-concentration electrolyte (> 3 mol·L−1 salts) for the optimizing electrochemical performance. Herein, we propose and design an interfacial high-concentration electrolyte induced by the nitrogen- and oxygen-doped carbon nanosheets (NO-CNS) for stable Li metal anodes. The NO-CNS with abundant surface negative charges not only creates an interfacial high-concentration of lithium ions near the electrode surface to promote charge-transfer kinetics but also enables a high ionic conductivity in the bulk electrolyte to improve ionic mass-transfer. Benefitting from the interfacial high-concentration electrolyte, the NO-CNS@Ni foam host presents outstanding electrochemical cycling performances over 600 cycles at 1 mA·cm−2 and an improved cycling lifespan of 1,500 h for symmetric cells.


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About this article

Interfacial high-concentration electrolyte for stable lithium metal anode: Theory, design, and demonstration

Show Author's information Haotian Lu1,2,3,4, Chunpeng Yang2,3( ), Feifei Wang1,2,3,4, Lu Wang1,2,3,4, Jinghong Zhou5, Wei Chen1,4, Quan-Hong Yang1,2,3( )
Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Fuzhou 350207, China
Nanoyang Group, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, Tianjin 300192, China
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Singapore
State-Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science of Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

Abstract

Lithium metal anodes hold great potential for high-energy-density secondary batteries. However, the uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth causes poor cycling efficiency and severe safety concerns, hindering lithium metal anode from practical application. Electrolyte components play important roles in suppressing lithium dendrite growth and improving the electrochemical performance of long-life lithium metal anode, and it is still challenging to effectively compromise the advantages of the conventional electrolyte (1 mol·L−1 salts) and high-concentration electrolyte (> 3 mol·L−1 salts) for the optimizing electrochemical performance. Herein, we propose and design an interfacial high-concentration electrolyte induced by the nitrogen- and oxygen-doped carbon nanosheets (NO-CNS) for stable Li metal anodes. The NO-CNS with abundant surface negative charges not only creates an interfacial high-concentration of lithium ions near the electrode surface to promote charge-transfer kinetics but also enables a high ionic conductivity in the bulk electrolyte to improve ionic mass-transfer. Benefitting from the interfacial high-concentration electrolyte, the NO-CNS@Ni foam host presents outstanding electrochemical cycling performances over 600 cycles at 1 mA·cm−2 and an improved cycling lifespan of 1,500 h for symmetric cells.

Keywords: lithium metal anode, dendrite growth, interfacial high-concentration electrolyte, surface negative charge

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 29 June 2022
Revised: 20 August 2022
Accepted: 05 September 2022
Published: 03 October 2022
Issue date: June 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFF0500600), the Haihe Laboratory of Sustainable Chemical Transformations, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. We appreciate Neware Technology Co., Ltd for their battery test systems in the TJU Nanoyang-Neware Joint Laboratory for Energy Innovation.

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