Electrochemically Dealloyed 3D Porous Copper Nanostructure as Anode Current Collector of Li-Metal Batteries.

The commercialization of high-energy Li-metal batteries is impeded by Li dendrites formed during electrochemical cycling and the safety hazards it causes. Here, a novel porous copper current collector that can effectively mitigate the dendritic growth of Li is reported. This porous Cu foil is fabricated via a simple two-step electrochemical process, where Cu-Zn alloy is electrodeposited on commercial copper foil and then Zn is electrochemically dissolved to form a 3D porous structure of Cu.

Understanding the Polymorphism of Cobalt Nanoparticles Formed in Electrodeposition-An In Situ XRD Study.

An advanced synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique is successfully developed and employed to track and monitor the formation and phase selection of cobalt (Co) in electrodeposition in real time and verify DFT computational results. The impacts of a number of controlling factors including the pH of the electrolyte and deposition overpotential are systematically studied. The results show that the yielded phase of the electrodeposited Co is controlled by both thermodynamics and kinetics.

Lithium-Doping Stabilized High-Performance P2-NaLiFeMnO Cathode for Sodium Ion Batteries.

While sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) hold great promise for large-scale electric energy storage and low speed electric vehicles, the poor capacity retention of the cathode is one of the bottlenecks in the development of SIBs. Following a strategy of using lithium doping in the transition-metal layer to stabilize the desodiated structure, we have designed and successfully synthesized a novel layered oxide cathode P2-NaLiFeMnO, which demonstrated a high  capacity of 190 mAh g and a remarkably high capacity retention of ∼87% after 80 cycles within a wide voltage range of 1.5-4.

Guiding Synthesis of Polymorphs of Materials Using Nanometric Phase Diagrams.

Conventionally, phase diagrams serve as road maps for the design and synthesis of materials. However, bulk phase diagrams are often not as predictive for the synthesis of nanometric materials, mainly due to the increased significance of surface energy. The change of surface energy can drastically alter the total energy of the nanocrystals and thus yields a polymorph or metastable phase different from the stable phase in bulk, providing a means for controlling the synthesis of metastable phases.

Author Correction: NaAlTiO, A Novel Anode Material for Sodium Ion Battery.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML version of this paper. The error has been fixed in the paper.

NaAlTiO, A Novel Anode Material for Sodium Ion Battery.

Sodium ion batteries are being considered as an alternative to lithium ion batteries in large-scale energy storage applications owing to the low cost. A novel titanate compound, NaAlTiO, was successfully synthesized and tested as a promising anode material for sodium ion batteries. Powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and refinement were used to analyze the crystal structure.