Wearable Bipolar Rechargeable Aluminum Battery

Abstract

Structural design plays an essential role in the energy density of wearable batteries. Although various flexible materials have been developed to substitute traditional rigid components, current wearable batteries struggle to achieve high energy density because of the excessive inactive components in the traditional monopolar structure. Herein, an all-in-one bipolar Al system is designed as wearable batteries, in which multifunctional carbon/polyethylene film (CPF) serves as the bipolar plate, cell package, and encapsulant. Our designed bipolar Al battery can be designed as a flexible watch strap with a working voltage of 3.21 V and exhibits good capacity retention of 80% under high bending angles (120°), high current densities (960 mA/g), high mass loading (15 mg/cm 2 ), and low temperature (−20 °C). Additionally, as the stack number of cells increasing to five, the volume of traditional serial batteries can nearly halve through bipolar design. It is anticipated that our bipolar configuration concept would offer a new solution for the development of advanced wearable batteries and stimulate the surge of wearable electronics.

Amorphous anion-rich titanium polysulfides for aluminum-ion batteries

“…The cathodes were prepared by pressing a-TiS x /KB, c-TiS 2 /KB, or c-TiS 2 + 2S/KB, KB, carbon nanotubes (CNT, XFNANO), and poly tetra fluoroethylene (PTFE, Alfa Aesar) at a weight ratio of 80:10:5:5 onto a molybdenum mesh. The AlCl 3 :[EMIm]Cl (1.3:1, mole ratio) electrolyte was prepared following the previously reported procedures ( 51 ): [EMIm]Cl (99%, Shanghai Chengjie Ionic Liquid Company) was dried in an Ar glove box at 130°C overnight before anhydrous aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 , 99.999%, Acros) was slowly added to it while stirring. The pouch cells were assembled using an aluminum foil (100 μm) anode, a piece of glass fiber (Whatman, GF/A) separator, the as-prepared cathode, AlCl 3 :[EMIm]Cl ionic liquid electrolyte, and an Al plastic film package.…”

Rechargeable Al‐Chalcogen Batteries: Status, Challenges, and Perspectives

“…Here, an example of wearable Al‐C battery with specifically stacked design (bipolar design) is shown in Figure 7 a. [ 49 ] As show in the schematic illustration, the electrode materials are coated on both side of one current collector, resulting in lower inactive component than that of the traditional monopolar design. Moreover, the discharged voltage of this stacked Al‐C battery with series connection can reach up to 4 V (Figure 7b), verifying the practical potential of this battery structure.…”

“…For SSTs cathode, conductive materials (mostly carbon-based materials) with a porous matrix and nanostructure are preferred to be host material owing to the low electrical conductivity of SSTs (mainly for S and Se) and the soluble properties of the chalcogenide. These host materials can provide sufficient contact with SSTs to avoid the formation of inactive regions and fulfill the adsorbing and accommodating [49] Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society. Schemes of c) unstable interface based on separator in liquid-state AIBs and d) robust interface based on the solid-state electrolyte in AIBs.…”

“…Figure 7. a) Schematic illustration of a stacked Al-C battery with bipolar design, and b) the corresponding electrochemical performance. a-b) Reproduced with permission [49]. Copyright 2020, American Chemical Society.…”

A General Template‐Induced Sulfuration Approach for Preparing Bifunctional Hollow Sulfides for High‐Performance Al‐ and Li‐ion Batteries

“…The following research directions have been considered promising: developing new energy storage materials to improve the electrochemical performance of secondary batteries; and constructing new battery systems. [ 5–8 ] Considering aluminum‐ion (Al‐ion) battery as an example, it is characterized by fast charging, low cost, and high theoretical capacity (2980 mAh g −1 , 8063 mAh cm −3 ). [ 9–12 ] However, the decay of cathode materials makes the capacity decreases rapidly.…”