High-Energy LiNiO Li Metal Batteries Enabled by Hybrid Electrolyte Consisting of Ionic Liquid and Weakly Solvating Fluorinated Ether.

In pursuit of the highest possible energy density, researchers shift their focus to the ultimate anode material, lithium metal (Li), and high-capacity cathode materials with high nickel content (Ni > 80%). The combination of these aggressive electrodes presents unprecedented challenges to the electrolyte. Here, we report a hybrid electrolyte consisting of a highly fluorinated ionic liquid and a weakly solvating fluorinated ether, whose hybridization structure enables the reversible operation of a battery chemistry based on Li and LiNiO (Ni = 100%), delivering nearly theoretical capacity of the latter (up to 249 mAh g) for >300 cycles with retention of 78.

Functionality Selection Principle for High Voltage Lithium-ion Battery Electrolyte Additives.

A new class of electrolyte additives based on cyclic fluorinated phosphate esters was rationally designed and identified as being able to stabilize the surface of a LiNiMnCoO (NMC532) cathode when cycled at potentials higher than 4.6 V vs Li/Li. Cyclic fluorinated phosphates were designed to incorporate functionalities of various existing additives to maximize their utilization.

Observation of magnetoreceptive behavior in a multicellular magnetotactic prokaryote in higher than geomagnetic fields.

The magnetotactic multicellular prokaryote (MMP), a motile aggregate of bacterial cells, is known to exhibit an unusual "ping-pong" motility in magnetic fields greater than the earth's field. This motility is characterized by rapid excursions, opposite the direction of an applied magnetic field, and slower returns along the direction of the magnetic field. We have carried out detailed observations of the time and spatial dependence of the ping-pong motility and find 1), the outward and return excursions exhibit a uniform deceleration and acceleration, respectively; 2), the probability per unit time of an MMP undergoing a ping-pong excursion increases monotonically with the field strength; and 3), the outward excursions exhibit a very unusual distance distribution which is dependent on the magnetic field strength.