No abstract

Nickel–iron sulfides with a sea urchin-like architecture are controllably synthesized and exhibit enhanced OER activities.

A vertically aligned carbon nanofiber (VACNF) array with unique conically stacked graphitic structure directly grown on a planar Cu current collector (denoted as VACNF/Cu) is used as a high-porosity 3D host to overcome the commonly encountered issues of Li metal anodes. The excellent electrical conductivity and highly active lithiophilic graphitic edge sites facilitate homogenous coaxial Li plating/stripping around each VACNF and forming a uniform solid electrolyte interphase. The high specific surface area effectively reduces the local current density and suppresses dendrite growth during the charging/discharging processes. Meanwhile, this open nanoscale vertical 3D structure eliminates the volume changes during Li plating/stripping. As a result, highly reversible Li plating/stripping with high coulombic efficiency has been achieved at various current densities. A low voltage hysteresis of 35 mV over 500 h in symmetric cells has been achieved at 1 mA cm-2 with an areal Li plating capacity of 2 mAh cm-2 , which is far superior to the planar Cu current collector. Furthermore, a Li-S battery using a S@PAN cathode and a lithium-plated VACNF/Cu (VACNF/Cu@Li) anode with slightly higher capacity (2 mAh cm-2) exhibits an excellent rate capability and high cycling stability with no capacity fading over 600 cycles. Received: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff)) Revised: ((will be filled in by the editorial staff))

We report a method to significantly enhance the conductivity of lithium ions in a polymeric lithium salt membrane by introducing functionalized meso/macro-pores to accommodate a mixture of organic solvents in the polymer matrix.

No abstract