Ultrathin Aluminum Nanosheets Grown on Carbon Nanotubes for High Performance Lithium Ion Batteries

Abstract

Aluminum metal with high capacity has been regarded as a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries but suffers from pulverization and side reactions upon the lithiation and de‐lithiation process, which depend on the rational design and controllable synthesis of nanostructures. Here, it is proposed that ultrathin aluminum nanosheets (Al‐NS) grown on carbon nanotubes as anode materials for lithium ion batteries. Based on the preferential Al(111) crystal facet exposure and the rather limited thickness less than 5 nm, the batteries exhibit a high reversible capacity of 990 mAh g−1 at 1 C and an excellent rate capacity of 524.6 mAh g−1 at 24 C, and a long term stability with almost no capacity fading after 500 cycles at high C‐rates of 5, 10, and 20 C. Density functional theory based first principle calculation reveals that the high Young's modulus of Al(111) facet for fast Li+ diffusion and composite materials design with carbon nanotubes enable high rate capability and mitigate huge volume change during discharge/charge process. The results prove that ultrathin Al nanosheets can be a low cost and high‐performance anode material for lithium ion batteries.

Al-based materials for advanced lithium rechargeable batteries: recent progress and prospects

“…Reproduced with permission. 74 Copyright 2022, Wiley-VCH. The lithium adsorption energy on Al clusters (f) without and (g) with the support of graphene.…”

Design of a hydrolysis‐supported coating layer on the surface of Ni‐rich cathodes in secondary batteries

“…As one of the most typical studies to solve the surface deterioration of high‐Ni materials, research on surface coatings is being actively conducted. The surface coating can be an electrically conductive medium and can act as a physical protective layer that suppresses undesirable reactions between the active material and the electrolyte 25‐28 . By this means, the cycle stability can be improved by lengthening the lifetime of the cathode material and the capacity retention, while the thermodynamic stability can be improved by reducing the heat release of the material.…”

“…The surface coating can be an electrically conductive medium and can act as a physical protective layer that suppresses undesirable reactions between the active material and the electrolyte. [25][26][27][28] By this means, the cycle stability can be improved by lengthening the lifetime of the cathode material and the capacity retention, while the thermodynamic stability can be improved by reducing the heat release of the material. The coating materials generally used for high-Ni LNCM material are metal oxides (Al 2 O 3 , ZrO 2 , TiO 2 , B 2 O 3 , MoO 3 , or WO 3 ), 3,[29][30][31][32][33] phosphates, fluorides, and conductive polymers, but these materials may limit the transfer of Li ions and electrons, resulting in increased polarization and reduced battery capacity.…”

A Spinel Tin Ferrite with High Lattice-Oxygen Anchored on Graphene-like Porous Carbon Networks for Lithium-Ion Batteries with Super Cycle Stability and Ultra-fast Rate Performances

“…At present, spinel materials AB 2 O 4 (A is Co, Zn, Sn, Mn, Cu, etc., with bivalent metallic elements, and B is Fe, Co, Ni, Mn, etc., with trivalent metallic elements) have attracted great interest due to their high specific capacity, high safety, low cost, and wide availability. − But metal oxide anodes have several common defects, such as the volume expansion of the material during lithiation and delithiation, which will cause the material to deform, crack, and fall off the electrode and eventually cause the batteries to break down, and the poor conductivity of the metal oxide leads to the poor rate performance of the batteries. , Among AB 2 O 4 spinel materials, SnFe 2 O 4 (SFO) is a kind of inverse spinel oxide, which involves three kinds of lithium-ion storage mechanisms: (1) the intercalation of lithium-ions into SnFe 2 O 4 spinel lattices; (2) the conversion reaction between lithium-ions and SnFe 2 O 4 forming Li 2 O, metallic Sn, and Fe; and (3) the alloying reaction of lithium-ions with the formed metallic Sn. Thus, more than 12.4 mol of Li + can be intercalated/deintercalated per mole of SnFe 2 O 4 , with a theoretical specific capacity of 1130 mAh g –1 .…”