Carbon materials for stable Li metal anodes: Challenges, solutions, and outlook

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, although a promising candidate of nextgeneration energy storage devices, are hindered by some bottlenecks in their roadmap toward commercialization. The key challenges include solving the issues such as low utilization of active materials, poor cyclic stability, poor rate performance, and unsatisfactory Coulombic efficiency due to the inherent poor electrical and ionic conductivity of sulfur and its discharged products (e.g., Li 2 S 2 and Li 2 S), dissolution and migration of polysulfide ions in the electrolyte, unstable solid electrolyte interphase and dendritic growth on anodes, and volume change in both cathodes and anodes. Owing to the high specific surface area, pore volume, low density, good chemical stability, and particularly multimodal pore sizes, hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) materials have received considerable attention for circumventing the above problems in Li-S batteries. Herein, recent progress made in the synthetic methods and deployment of HPC materials for various components including sulfur cathodes, separators and interlayers, and lithium anodes in Li-S batteries is presented and summarized. More importantly, the correlation between the structures (pore volume, specific surface area, degree of pores, and heteroatom-doping) of HPC and the electrochemical performances of Li-S batteries is elaborated. Finally, a discussion on the challenges and future perspectives associated with HPCs for Li-S batteries is provided.

Section: Hcps For Stabilizing a Li-metal Anodementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hcps For Stabilizing a Li–metal Anodementioning

confidence: 99%

Status and perspectives of hierarchical porous carbon materials in terms of high‐performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Xiang

Kottapalli

et al. 2022

“…In spite that substantial enhancement in the electrochemical performance is feasible with the aforementioned strategy, achieving highly reversible and sustainable Li plating/stripping of Li foil with open space is nontrivial once practical levels of areal current densities and capacities are employed. For this reason, Li host frameworks with high surface areas and electronic conductivities are preferable due to their structural superiorities, such as large Li plating/stripping space and high electroactive surface area, which can effectively suppress the growth of Li dendrite 223,224 . Carbonaceous materials are known to be both chemically and electrochemically stable in battery systems, making them promising candidates for anode protection.…”

Section: Electrospinning Technique Toward Stable Lithium Metal Anodesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and perspectives on electrospinning techniques for solid‐state lithium batteries

Lei

Tang

Shao³

2022

Solid‐state electrolytes (SSEs), being the key component of solid‐state lithium batteries, have a significant impact on battery performance. Rational materials structure and composition engineering on SSEs are promising to improve their Li+ conductivity, interfacial contact, and mechanical integrity. Among the fabrication approaches, the electrospinning technique has attracted tremendous attention due to its own merits in constructing a three‐dimensional framework of SSEs with precise porosity structure, tunable materials composition, easy operation, and superior physicochemical properties. To this end, in this review, we provide a comprehensive summary of the recent development of electrospinning techniques for high‐performance SSEs. Firstly, we introduce the historical development of SSEs and summarize the fundamentals, including the Li+ transport mechanism and materials selection principle. Then, the versatility of electrospinning technologies in the construction of the three main types of SSEs and stabilization of lithium metal anodes is comprehensively discussed. Finally, a perspective on future research directions based on previous work is highlighted for developing high‐performance solid‐state lithium batteries based on electrospinning techniques.

“…Carbon is one of the most widely used materials for structured anodes due to its light weight, good electrical conductivity and chemical stability, and excellent mechanical properties. Carbon nanotubes, 26,33 graphene, 34,35 carbon fibers, 36,37 and biomass‐derived carbon 38 are extensively used as the host for lithium deposition, and they all significantly improve the performance of lithium metal anodes according to previous reports 39,40 . However, when a conductive skeleton is used as the matrix, lithium is highly possible to deposit directly on the top surface of the porous skeleton, 41 which causes the space in the upper portion to be filled with deposited Li metal; the interconnected channel is blocked, so the electrolyte and Li ions cannot enter the inner space of the skeleton, resulting in insufficient utilization of inner space, while the Li dendrites have already formed at the top.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Carbon nanotubes, 26,33 graphene, 34,35 carbon fibers, 36,37 and biomass-derived carbon 38 are extensively used as the host for lithium deposition, and they all significantly improve the performance of lithium metal anodes according to previous reports. 39,40 However, when a conductive skeleton is used as the matrix, lithium is highly possible to deposit directly on the top surface of the porous skeleton, 41 which causes the space in the upper portion to be filled with deposited Li metal; the interconnected channel is blocked, so the electrolyte and Li ions cannot enter the inner space of the skeleton, resulting in insufficient utilization of inner space, while the Li dendrites have already formed at the top. To solve the above issues, lithiophilic materials, such as MgO nanoparticles 42 and ZnO quantum dots, 43 were successfully introduced to the biomass-derived three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical porous carbon to induce lithium deposition, and finally, the dendrite-free lithium metal anode was achieved.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel design of 3D carbon host for stable lithium metal anode

Liu

Wang

et al. 2022

Rational design of porous conductive hosts with high electrical conductivity, large surface area, and adequate interior space is desirable to suppressing dendritic lithium growth and accommodating large volume change of lithium metal anode during the Li plating/stripping process. However, due to the conductive nature of the conductive hosts, Li is easily deposited directly on the top of the hosts, which hinders it from fully functioning. To circumvent the issue, in this study, we designed a novel porous carbon host with a gradient‐pore‐size structure based on one‐dimensional (1D) carbon with different diameters. With this kind of host, stable cycling with high and stable Coulombic efficiency of ~98% is achieved at 0.5 mA cm−2 with an areal capacity of 1 mAh cm−2 over 320 cycles. In contrast, the normal three‐dimensional (3D) carbon nanotube host presents a moss‐like Li morphology with wildly fluctuating Coulombic efficiency after 100 cycles. The results reveal that the unique gradient‐pore‐size structure of the 3D conductive host greatly improves the performance of lithium metal batteries.