The research is described in an online paper entitled ‘Interconnected hollow carbon nanospheres for stable lithium metal anodes’ published in Nature Nanotechnology.
Lithium metal is an optimal choice as an anode material for batteries with higher energy storage density than existing lithium ion batteries because it has the highest specific capacity (3,860 mAh g–1) and the lowest anode potential of all. However, the lithium anode forms dendritic and mossy metal deposits, leading to serious safety concerns and low Coulombic efficiency during charge/discharge cycles.
Although advanced characterization techniques have helped shed light on the lithium growth process, effective strategies to improve lithium metal anode cycling remain elusive. The Stanford researchers have shown that coating the lithium metal anode with a monolayer of interconnected amorphous hollow carbon nanospheres helps isolate the lithium metal depositions and facilitates the formation of a stable solid electrolyte interphase. Lithium dendrites do not form up to a practical current density of 1 mA cm–2. The Coulombic efficiency improves to ∼99% for more than 150 cycles which is better than the bare unmodified samples that usually show rapid Coulombic efficiency decay in fewer than 100 cycles.
The results indicate that nanoscale interfacial engineering could be a promising strategy to tackle the intrinsic problems of lithium metal anodes and could realise a practical and stable lithium metal anode that could power the next generation of rechargeable batteries.
Yi Cui, a professor of Material Science and Engineering was the leader of the Stanford research team which included Guangyuan Zheng, a doctoral candidate in Cui’s lab and first author of the paper, and Steven Chu, the former US Secretary of Energy and Nobel Laureate who recently resumed his professorship at Stanford.
Source: http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/pure-lithium-anode-promises-more-efficient-rechargeable-batteries.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=222921896&vID=209
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