Lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries offer higher theoretical specific capacity, lower cost and enhanced safety compared to current Li-ion battery technology. However, the multiple reactions and phase changes in the sulfur conversion cathode result in highly complex phenomena that significantly impact cycling life. For the first time to the authors' knowledge, a multi-scale 3D in-situ tomography approach is used to characterize morphological parameters and track microstructural evolution of the sulfur cathode across multiple charge cycles. Here we show the uneven distribution of the sulfur phase fraction within the electrode thickness as a function of charge cycles, suggesting significant mass transport limitations within thick-film sulfur cathodes. Furthermore, we report a shift towards larger particle sizes and a decrease in volume specific surface area with cycling, suggesting sulfur agglomeration. Finally, we demonstrate the nano-scopic length-scale required for the features of the carbon binder domain to become discernible, confirming the need for future work on in-situ nano-tomography. We anticipate that X-ray tomography will be a powerful tool for optimization of electrode structures for Li-S batteries.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5066203 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep35291 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Thermally Stimulated Spin Switching Accelerates Water Electrolysis.
Phys Rev Lett
December 2024
Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, No. 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210093, People's Republic of China.
Water electrolysis suffers from electron transfer barriers during oxygen evolution reactions, which are spin-related for magnetic materials. Here, the electron transfer at the Fe_{64}Ni_{36}-FeNiO_{x}H_{y} interface is effectively accelerated when the electrode is heated to trigger the Invar effect in Fe_{64}Ni_{36} Invar alloy, providing more unoccupied orbitals as electron transfer channels without pairing energy. As a result of thermally stimulated changes in electronic states, Fe_{64}Ni_{36}/FeNiO_{x}H_{y} achieved a cascaded oxidation of the catalytic center and water.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare Earth Complex-Based Functional Materials: From Molecular Design and Performance Regulation to Unique Applications.
Acc Chem Res
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
ConspectusRare earth (RE) elements, due to their unique electronic structures, exhibit excellent optical, electrical, and magnetic properties and thus have found widespread applications in the fields of electronics, optics, and biomedicine. A significant advancement in the use of RE elements is the formation of RE complexes. RE complexes, created by the coordination of RE ions with organic ligands, not only offer high molecular design flexibility but also incorporate features such as a broad absorption band and efficient energy transfer of organic ligands.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThree-dimensional photoluminescence imaging of threading dislocations in GaN by sub-band optical excitation.
Sci Rep
January 2025
Lawrence Livermore National Lab, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA.
GaN is rapidly gaining attention for implementation in power electronics but is still impacted by its high density of threading dislocations (TDs), which have been shown to facilitate current leakage through devices limiting their performance and reliability. Here, we discuss a novel implementation of photoluminescence (PL) imaging to study TDs in regions within vertically structured p-i-n GaN (PIN) diodes consisting of metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) epitaxial layers grown on ammonothermal GaN (am-GaN) substrates. PL imaging with a sub-bandgap excitation energy (3.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhotoinduced hidden monoclinic metallic phase of VO driven by local nucleation.
Nat Commun
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
The insulator-to-metal transition in VO has garnered extensive attention for its potential applications in ultrafast switches, neuronal network architectures, and storage technologies. However, the photoinduced insulator-to-metal transition remains controversial, especially whether a complete structural transformation from the monoclinic to rutile phase is necessary. Here we employ the real-time time-dependent density functional theory to track the dynamic evolution of atomic and electronic structures in photoexcited VO, revealing the emergence of a long-lived monoclinic metal phase under low electronic excitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBoosting the durability of RuO via confinement effect for proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer.
Nat Commun
January 2025
MOE International Joint Laboratory of Materials Microstructure, Institute for New Energy Materials and Low Carbon Technologies, School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, China.
Ruthenium dioxide has attracted extensive attention as a promising catalyst for oxygen evolution reaction in acid. However, the over-oxidation of RuO into soluble HRuO species results in a poor durability, which hinders the practical application of RuO in proton exchange membrane water electrolysis. Here, we report a confinement strategy by enriching a high local concentration of in-situ formed HRuO species, which can effectively suppress the RuO degradation by shifting the redox equilibrium away from the RuO over-oxidation, greatly boosting its durability during acidic oxygen evolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!