Recent Advances in Carbon‐Based Current Collectors/Hosts for Alkali Metal Anodes

Abstract

The urgent demand for high‐energy‐density storage systems evokes the research upsurge on the alkali metal batteries with high theoretical capacities. However, the utilization of alkali metal anodes, including Li, Na, and K, is significantly hindered by notorious dendrite growth, undesirable corrosion, and unstable solid electrolyte interface. In order to resolve these issues, the carbon materials for the rational design of current collector/host that can regulate the plating/stripping behavior of alkali metal have been exploited. These carbon‐based current collectors/hosts are featured with many pivotal advantages, including mechanical integrity to accommodate the volume change, superior electronic/ionic conductivity, large available surface area, and rich functionalization chemistries to increase the affinity to alkali metal. In this review, the recent progress on various dimensional carbon‐based current collectors/hosts with different chemical components in stabilizing the alkali metal anodes through the regulation of initial deposition and subsequent growth behavior during plating/stripping process is provided. The nanostructured carbon scaffolds with self‐affinity to alkali metals, as well as the carbon frameworks with internal/external affinitive sites to alkali metals, catalogued by various dimensions, are discussed in this review. Therefore, these appealing strategies based on the carbon‐based current collectors/hosts can provide a paradigm for the realization of high‐energy‐density alkali metal batteries.

Bio-inspired carbon electrodes for metal-ion batteries

“…Thus, ionic/electronic conductivity is a pivotal factor for obtaining high capacity in electrode materials, which is greatly influenced by the ion channels in the electrodes. 46–48 To enhance the conductivity of electrodes, Gao and co-workers 42 developed an in situ carbon-coated LiMn 0.8 Fe 0.2 PO 4 (LMFP/C) cathode material consisting of N-doped graphene nanoribbon (GNR)-based conductive frameworks and active materials for LIBs (Fig. 4b).…”

Developments, Novel Concepts, and Challenges of Current Collectors: From Conventional Lithium Batteries to All‐Solid‐State Batteries

“…Carbonaceous materials are also favoured as current collectors in lithium batteries which have been extensively studied. The carbon‐based current collectors are featured with many pivotal advantages, including mechanical integrity to accommodate the volume change, superior ionic conductivity, large available surface area, and rich functionalization chemistries to increase the affinity to Li metal or active materials [34,57–60] . Li et al [60] .…”

“…The carbon-based current collectors are featured with many pivotal advantages, including mechanical integrity to accommodate the volume change, superior ionic conductivity, large available surface area, and rich functionalization chemistries to increase the affinity to Li metal or active materials. [34,[57][58][59][60] Li et al [60] utilized graphite paper (GP) as anode current collector in LMBs enhancing the cycling stability and specific energy density. GP not only has ultra-lightweight, high conductivity, and good mechanical and chemical stability, but also suppresses galvanic corrosion that occurs between Li metal and traditional Cu foil current collector.…”

An Ultrastable Low-Temperature Na Metal Battery Enabled by Synergy between Weakly Solvating Solvents

“…Lithium ion batteries (LIBs) have achieved great success in the past three decades in application scenarios such as portable electronics, mobile phones, and especially hybrid or electric vehicles (EVs). − However, EVs require good low-temperature battery performance when driven in areas of high latitude or in cold winter, while LIBs have poor performance when working below −20 °C because the relatively high-freezing-point and high-polarity carbonate-based electrolytes induce low ionic conductivity, sluggish desolvation, and charge-transfer processes. , In recent years, Na metal batteries have achieved increasing attention because the Na metal anode has a low working potential (−2.71 V vs NHE) and high theoretical capacity (1166 mAh g –1 ). − In addition, the abundance of Na on the earth renders Na metal batteries a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage systems. ,, Meanwhile, Na has lower first ionization energy than Li (495.8 vs 520.2 kJ mol –1 ) and thus may have weaker binding with solvents, which is beneficial for batteries working at low temperatures. , …”