Battery Energy最新文献

Liquid battery electrolytes are utilized in most battery systems to date as they provide improved electrode contact and ionic conductivity compared to solid electrolytes; however, they pose major challenges regarding safety. Being highly flammable, toxic, and volatile, leakage of such a liquid electrolyte is always considered a major safety risk. Hence, the improvement of liquid electrolytes remains an important goal, especially for high gravimetric energy battery systems like the lithium–sulfur battery (LSB), which is considered a suitable battery type to enable fully electric-powered aviation. Here, a study on the effects of a variation of the electrolyte media and salt was conducted to establish an inexpensive alternative liquid electrolyte system to the state-of-the-art DOL/DME electrolyte of LSB. The combination of DEGMEE and LiFSI led to the best cycling performance showing an increase in cycling stability (110 cycles at 97% Coulombic efficiency) and specific capacity (~500 mAh g⁻¹ in the 110th cycle) at a moderately high C-rate of 0.25 C, which for our coin cell system translates to a moderate current of ~1.8 mA (~1.2 mA cm⁻²).

Severe lithium dendrite issues bring a significant challenge for the practical application of Li metal anodes. In this study, a scalable spray-coating method is used to in situ construct an organic/inorganic composite interfacial layer including Li-Zn alloy and lithium polyacrylate on the surface of lithium metal. The Li-Zn alloy exhibits favorable lithiophilic and high Li⁺ diffusion coefficient, whereas highly elastic lithium polyacrylate is a Li⁺ conductor and provides excellent mechanical properties. Finally, the ZA-Li||ZA-Li cell shows stable cycling for over 1800 h with 1 mA cm⁻² at 2 h per cycle, which demonstrates a pronounced inhibition of lithium dendrite growth. Based on the above merits, this work would open a new avenue to develop advanced artificial interfacial layer with multiple capabilities for high-performance lithium metal batteries.

Front Cover: Wearable electronics are expected to be light, durable, flexible, and comfortable. In article number BTE.20230061.R1, Qi Zhang et al. critically review the state of the art with respect to materials of electrodes and electrolyte, the device structure, and the corresponding fabrication techniques as well as application of the flexible energy storage devices. Moreover, the material attribute, functions, and the working conditions of devices in the future were presented.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), as a new type of functional material, have received much attention in recent years. High ionic conductivity, large specific surface area, controllable pore structure and geometry make it possible to be used as electrode materials. Meanwhile, different types of MOF derivatives can be prepared by adjusting the metal central element, which provides options for finding electrode materials for high-performance batteries. This paper reviews the recent research progress of pristine MOFs for sodium/potassium-ion batteries. In addition, this paper describes the working principle, advantages, and challenges of MOFs in sodium/potassium-ion batteries, strategies to improve the electrochemical performance, as well as future prospects and directions.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have received widespread attention due to their light weight, low cost, semitransparency, and ease-of-solution processing. By continuously improving materials design, active layer morphology, and device fabrication techniques, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs have exceeded 20%. The morphology of the active layer, which includes the phase separation structure, the degree of crystallinity of molecules, and the domain sizes, plays a critically important role in the performance, which is significantly influenced by the crystallization dynamics of the donor and acceptor. Therefore, it is crucial to comprehensively understand how the dynamics impact the film structure and how to effectively employ the kinetic procedure to enhance the structure of the active layer in OSCs. In this review, the methods and principles of kinetics characterization were introduced. Afterward, the latest advancements in the control of film-forming and the post annealing process are outlined, unveiling the underlying mechanism. In conclusion, the potential and future of OSCs were anticipated and projected. Researchers may gain a comprehensive understanding of how dynamic process affects the morphology through this review, potentially enhancing the performance of OSCs.

Developing suitable hole transport materials is of utmost importance in the quest to enhance the performance of CsPbI₂Br perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Among the various undoped hole transport materials (HTMs), D-π-A type polymers incorporating benzodithiophene (BDT) as the D unit and benzotriazole (BTA) as the A unit have shown promising potential. To further optimize the energy level and enhance the hole transport ability of these HTMs, we employed a fluorine substitution strategy to synthesize P-BTA-2F and P-BTA-4F based on the polymer P-BTA-0F. Subsequently, we investigated the impact of varying degrees of fluorine substitution on the properties of the polymer materials and the performance of the devices. As the number of F substitutions increases, the polymer energy level of the HTM gradually shifts downward, the face-on stacking of the HTM strengthens, the hole mobility of the HTM increases, and the rate of hole extraction and transport becomes faster. Ultimately, the CsPbI₂Br PSCs based on the P-BTA-4F HTM achieve the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.68%. Those findings demonstrate that selecting an appropriate amount of fluorine substitution is crucial for regulating the performance of polymer HTMs and improving device efficiency.

The utilization of biomass materials that contain abundant carbon–oxygen/nitrogen functional groups as precursors for the synthesis of carbon materials presents a promising approach for energy storage and conversion applications. Porous carbon materials derived from biomass are commonly employed as electric-double-layer capacitors in aqueous electrolytes. However, there is a lack of detailed discussion and clarification regarding the kinetics analysis and energy storage mechanisms associated with these materials. This study focuses on the modification of starch powders through the KOH activation process, resulting in the production of porous carbon with tunable nitrogen/oxygen functional groups. The kinetics and energy storage mechanism of this particular material in both acid and alkaline aqueous electrolytes are investigated using in situ attenuated total reflectance-infrared in a three-electrode configuration.

Sodium-ion batteries are expected to replace lithium-ion batteries in large-scale energy storage systems due to their low cost, wide availability, and high abundance. Polyanionic materials are considered to be the most promising cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries because of their cycling stability and structural stability. However, limited by its poor electronic conductivity, the electrochemical performance needs to be further improved. This paper reviews the characterization and development of 3d transition metal ions polyanionic compounds, along with the summarized effect of structure and particle size on the performance and improvement of electrochemical properties. Meanwhile, crystal structure modulation, transition metal ion choice, and transition metal ion doping can improve the electrochemical performance and energy density of polyanionic compounds. Finally, this review points out the challenges of polyanionic compounds and puts forward some particular standpoints, contributing to the promising development of polyanionic compounds in the large-scale energy storage market.

Silicon (Si) has emerged as a promising anode material in the pursuit of higher energy-density lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The large-scale applications of Si anode, however, are hindered by its significant swelling, severe pulverization, and continuous electrode–electrolyte reaction. Therefore, the development of an efficient approach to mitigate Si particle swelling and minimize interface parasitic reactions has emerged as a prominent research focus in both academia and industry. Here, a facile and scalable strategy is reported for the preparation of a double-layer coated submicron Si anode, comprising ceramic (silicon oxide) and graphene layers, denoted as Si@SiO_x@G. In this approach, SiO_x is in situ synthesized on the surface of Si and bonded with graphene through hydrogen bond interactions. The prepared Si electrode shows exceptional structural integration and demonstrates outstanding electrochemical stability, with a capacity retention of 92.58% after 540 cycles at 1 A g⁻¹, as well as remarkable rate capability, achieving a specific capacity of 875 mAh g⁻¹ at 2 A g⁻¹. This study presents a straightforward yet pragmatic approach for the widespread implementation of high-energy-density silicon-based batteries.

High energy density Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes LiNi_0.83Co_0.12Mn_0.05−xAl_xO₂ (x = 0 [NMC], 0.025 [NMCA], 0.05 [NCA]) are fabricated in two different microstructural forms: (i) nanoparticles (NP) and (ii) nanofibers (NF), to evaluate the morphology and compositional effect on the electrochemical properties using same precursors, with the latter fabricated by electrospinning process. Although all the cathodes exhibit a similar crystal structure as confirmed using X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy, the contrasting difference is observed in their electrochemical properties. XRD and XPS analyses indicate a higher amount of cationic disorder for the NP cathodes compared to their NF counterparts. Nanofibrous Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes exhibit higher discharge capacities at all C-rates in comparison to NP cathodes. When cycled at 1C-rate for 100 cycles, capacity retention of 81% is observed for NCA-NF, which is superior to all cathodes. Voltage decay as a function of the charge–discharge cycle is found to be low (0.2 mV/cycle) for nanofibrous cathodes compared to 1.5 mV/cycle for NP cathodes. The good rate capability and cyclic stability of nanofibrous Ni-rich layered oxide cathodes are attributed to a shorter pathway of Li⁺ diffusion and a large proportion of the active surface area.