Nanoporous Hybrid Electrolytes for High-Energy Batteries Based on Reactive Metal Anodes
Type
ArticleAuthors
Tu, ZhengyuanZachman, Michael J.

Choudhury, Snehashis

Wei, Shuya

Ma, Lin
Yang, Yuan
Kourkoutis, Lena F.

Archer, Lynden A.

KAUST Grant Number
KUS-C1-018-02Date
2017-01-06Online Publication Date
2017-01-06Print Publication Date
2017-04Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/623569
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Show full item recordAbstract
Successful strategies for stabilizing electrodeposition of reactive metals, including lithium, sodium, and aluminum are a requirement for safe, high-energy electrochemical storage technologies that utilize these metals as anodes. Unstable deposition produces high-surface area dendritic structures at the anode/electrolyte interface, which causes premature cell failure by complex physical and chemical processes that have presented formidable barriers to progress. Here, it is reported that hybrid electrolytes created by infusing conventional liquid electrolytes into nanoporous membranes provide exceptional ability to stabilize Li. Electrochemical cells based on γ-Al2O3 ceramics with pore diameters below a cut-off value above 200 nm exhibit long-term stability even at a current density of 3 mA cm−2. The effect is not limited to ceramics; similar large enhancements in stability are observed for polypropylene membranes with less monodisperse pores below 450 nm. These findings are critically assessed using theories for ion rectification and electrodeposition reactions in porous solids and show that the source of stable electrodeposition in nanoporous electrolytes is fundamental.Citation
Tu Z, Zachman MJ, Choudhury S, Wei S, Ma L, et al. (2017) Nanoporous Hybrid Electrolytes for High-Energy Batteries Based on Reactive Metal Anodes. Advanced Energy Materials 7: 1602367. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201602367.Sponsors
The authors are grateful to the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) award DE-AR-0000750, DE-FOA-001002 for supporting this study. The study also made use of the electrochemical characterization facilities of the KAUST-CU Center for Energy and Sustainability, which was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) through Award # KUS-C1-018-02. Electron microscopy facilities at the Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), an NSF-supported MRSEC through Grant DMR-1120296, were also used for the study. Additional support for the FIB/SEM cryostage and transfer system was provided by the Kavli Institute at Cornell and the Energy Materials Center at Cornell, DOE EFRC BES (DE-SC0001086). M.J.Z. and L.F.K. acknowledge support by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.Publisher
WileyJournal
Advanced Energy Materialsae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1002/aenm.201602367