Direct observation of lithium-ion transport under an electrical field in LixCoO2 nanograins

Abstract

The past decades have witnessed the development of many technologies based on nanoionics, especially lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Now there is an urgent need for developing LIBs with good high-rate capability and high power. LIBs with nanostructured electrodes show great potentials for achieving such goals. However, the nature of Li-ion transport behaviors within the nanostructured electrodes is not well clarified yet. Here, Li-ion transport behaviors in LixCoO2 nanograins are investigated by employing conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) technique to study the local Li-ion diffusion induced conductance change behaviors with a spatial resolution of ~10 nm. It is found that grain boundary has a low Li-ion diffusion energy barrier and provides a fast Li-ion diffusion pathway, which is also confirmed by our first principles calculation. This information provides important guidelines for designing high performance LIBs from a point view of optimizing the electrode material microstructures and the development of nanoionics.

Bipolar and unipolar resistive switching modes in Pt/Zn0.99Zr0.01O/Pt structure for multi-bit resistance random access memory

“…Meanwhile, the thermal-assisted rupture of CF's in the reset process is likely induced by the Joule-heat. 14,15 It is noted that the forming voltage of the Zr-doped devices is much lower than that (3.8 V) of undoped ZnO devices in our previous report. 7 This could be attributed to the abundant oxygen vacancy clusters pre-existing in thin films, which reduces the value of the forming voltage.…”

Direct Evidence of Lithium Ion Migration in Resistive Switching of Lithium Cobalt Oxide Nanobatteries

“…Apart from this, a new promising class of Li‐based RS materials has recently been observed . Such a class, which embodies oxide‐based RS devices for memristive systems with Li‐based nanobatteries, is of substantial technological relevance to the state‐of‐the‐art.…”

Voltage induced electrochemical reactions in the single lithium-rich layer-oxide nanoparticles

“…Many works have been dedicated to understanding the kinetic mechanisms of LIBs, from atomic to macroscopic scales, to improve the performance or develop better electrode materials. 8,9 However, the active particles, which are crucial and fundamental elements of the LIBs, are rarely characterized experimentally, especially at the nanoscale. 5 The majority of characterizations of LIBs are based on full-cells or half-cells 6,7 or thin film batteries.…”