Dendrite Suppression by Synergistic Combination of Solid Polymer Electrolyte Crosslinked with Natural Terpenes and Lithium‐Powder Anode for Lithium‐Metal Batteries

Abstract

Lithium-metal anode has fundamental problems concerning formation and growth of lithium dendrites, which prevents practical applications of next generation of high-capacity lithium-metal batteries. The synergistic combination of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) crosslinked with naturally occurring terpenes and lithium-powder anode is promising solution to resolve the dendrite issues by substituting conventional liquid electrolyte/separator and lithium-foil anode system. A series of SPEs based on polysiloxane crosslinked with natural terpenes are prepared by facile thiol-ene click reaction under mild condition and the structural effect of terpene crosslinkers on electrochemical properties is studied. Lithium powder with large surface area is prepared by droplet emulsion technique (DET) and used as anode material. The effect of the physical state of electrolyte (solid/liquid) and morphology of lithium-metal anode (powder/foil) on dendrite growth behavior is systematically studied. The synergistic combination of SPE and lithium-powder anode suggests an effective solution to suppress the dendrite growth owing to the formation of a stable solid-electrolyte interface (SEI) layer and delocalized current density.

High Ion‐Conducting Solid‐State Composite Electrolytes with Carbon Quantum Dot Nanofillers

“…Unfortunately, its intrinsically low ionic conductivity (10 −7 –10 −6 S cm −1 ) originating from sluggish polymer chain dynamics upon crystallization restricts practical application 6. A variety of strategies, including the introduction of liquid plasticizers to produce a gel polymer electrolyte,7 the formation of block copolymers,8 crosslinking polymers9 and the addition of ceramic fillers2, 10 have been employed to increase the ionic conductivity of polymer electrolytes. Among these techniques, incorporating nanoscale fillers into the polymer matrix is attractive due to significant enhancement of the ion transport efficiency without sacrificing mechanical strength and electrochemical and thermal stability.…”

Sustainable Lignin‐Derived Cross‐Linked Graft Polymers as Electrolyte and Binder Materials for Lithium Metal Batteries

“…The SPE, denoted as LPGP#, was prepared by a photo‐acid‐catalyzed cross‐linking reaction of the epoxy group in LPG with the epoxy group in poly(ethylene glycol) diglycidyl ether (PEGDE) under UV light irradiation (Figure a). The lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl)imide salt concentration in LPGP#s was [Li + ]/[EO]=0.07, which was the optimum concentration in the SPEs found from our previous studies . The cross‐linking density of the SPE could be simply tuned by adjusting the wt % of PEGDE in the electrolyte composition, where the number # in the LPGP# indicates the wt % of PEGDE.…”

Key Aspects of Lithium Metal Anodes for Lithium Metal Batteries

“…It is well known that the anode is always covered by a protective layer called an SEI film . An unstable SEI results in fast self‐discharge (short shelf‐life), increased impedance, irreversible capacity loss, dendrite formation, and an abnormal Coulombic efficiency of the cell . In early research, the Butler–Volmer equation was used to investigate the growth and behavior of the SEI film.…”