Issue 9, 2017

A soft non-porous separator and its effectiveness in stabilizing Li metal anodes cycling at 10 mA cm−2 observed in situ in a capillary cell

Abstract

While lithium metal anodes have the highest theoretical capacity for rechargeable batteries, they are plagued by the growth of lithium dendrites, side reactions, and a moving contact interface with the electrolyte during cycling. Here, we synthesize a non-porous, elastomeric solid–electrolyte separator, which not only blocks dendritic growth more effectively than traditional polyolefin separators at large current densities, but also accommodates the large volume change of lithium metal by elastic deformation and conformal interfacial motion. Specially designed transparent capillary cells were assembled to observe the dynamics of the lithium/rubber interface in situ. Further experiments in coin cells at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 and an areal capacity of 10 mA h cm−2 show improved cycling stability with this new rubber separator.

Graphical abstract: A soft non-porous separator and its effectiveness in stabilizing Li metal anodes cycling at 10 mA cm−2 observed in situ in a capillary cell

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
04 Jan 2017
Accepted
24 Jan 2017
First published
24 Jan 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 4300-4307

A soft non-porous separator and its effectiveness in stabilizing Li metal anodes cycling at 10 mA cm−2 observed in situ in a capillary cell

K. Liu, P. Bai, M. Z. Bazant, C. Wang and J. Li, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 4300 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA00069C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements