A comparative study of bulk and surface W-doped high-Ni cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

This study explores the influence of tungsten (W) doping on the structural and electrochemical performance of high-nickel LiNiCoMnO (NCM811) cathode materials, aiming to enhance lithium-ion battery high rate and long-term cycling stability. Tungsten was incorporated through two distinct approaches: bulk doping a wet-chemical co-precipitation method and surface doping solid-state processing during calcination. Comprehensive characterization, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and micro-cavity electrode electrochemical measurements was conducted to elucidate the effect of W doping on the morphology, crystallinity, and lithium-ion transport properties.

Three-dimensional carbon coated and high mass-loaded NiO@Ni foam anode with high specific capacity for lithium ion batteries.

Nickel oxide (NiO) is known for its remarkable theoretical specific capacity, making it a highly appealing option for electrode materials in electrochemical energy storage applications. Nevertheless, its practical use is limited by poor electrochemical performance and complicated electrode fabrication processes. To address these issues, we propose a new anode design comprising an intermediate NiO nanoarray layer and a carbon coating layer grown directly on a three-dimensional (3D) conductive nickel foam substrate, designated as C@NiO@Ni foam.

Polyacrylamide-based hydrogel electrolyte for modulating water activity in aqueous hybrid batteries.

While zinc-ion and hybrid aqueous battery systems have emerged as potential substitutes for expensive lithium-ion batteries, issues like side reactions, limited electrochemical stability, and electrolyte leakage hinder their commercialization. Due to their low cost, high stability, minimal leakage risks, and a wide variety of modification opportunities, hydrogel electrolytes are considered the most promising solution compared to liquid or solid electrolytes. Here, we synthesized a dual-function hydrogel electrolyte based on polyacrylamide and poly(ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene (PPP).

Polysulfide-mediating properties of nickel phosphide carbon composite nanofibers as free-standing interlayers for lithium-sulfur batteries.

Issues such as the polysulfide shuttle effect and sulfur loss challenge the development of high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries. To address these limitations, a tailored approach is introduced using nickel phosphide carbon composite nanofibers (Ni P/C) with controlled surface oxidation layers. These nanofibers feature a hierarchical structure that leverages the benefits of nickel phosphide nanoparticles and a carbonaceous matrix to enable efficient sulfur encapsulation and suppress polysulfide diffusion.

Effect of magnetic field on the rate performance of a FeO/LiFePO composite cathode for Li-ion batteries.

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO or LFP) is a widely used cathode material in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its low cost and environmental safety. However, LFP faces challenges during high-rate operation and prolonged cycling. Magnetic field (MF) can enhance ionic conductivity and reduce polarization in the LFP cathode, particularly when magnetically sensitive iron oxide is added to the cathode.

Entropy profile of NCR 18650 cylindrical cell at various states of health.

Entropy measurement at various states of charge (SOC) is a potential non-destructive tool for characterizing lithium-ion batteries; however, traditional potentiometric methods are time-consuming. To address this, we developed a fast potentiometric method that estimates entropy by employing charging after pulse discharging to partly eliminate voltage relaxation. This method, combined with precise mathematical processing, reduces estimation time by approximately 4.

Solid Electrolyte Interphase on Lithium Metal Anodes.

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) represent the most promising next-generation high-energy density batteries. The solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film on the lithium metal anode plays a crucial role in regulating lithium deposition and improving the cycling performance of LMBs. In this review, we comprehensively present the formation process of the SEI film, while elucidating the key properties such as electronic conductivity, ionic conductivity, and mechanical performance.

In-situ Construction of Poly(tetraisopentyl acrylate) based Gel Polymer Electrolytes with Li La TiO for High Energy Density Lithium-Metal Batteries.

As promising alternatives to liquid electrolytes, polymer electrolytes attract much research interest recently, but their widespread use is limited by the low ionic conductivity. In this study, we use electrostatic spinning to introduce particles of an ionic conductor into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fibers to prepare a porous membrane as the host of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs). The relevant in-situ produced GPE performs a high ionic conductivity of 6.

Revealing Phase Transition in Ni-Rich Cathodes via a Nondestructive Entropymetry Method.

With the expanding requirements of recent energy regulations and economic interest in high-performance batteries, the need to improve battery energy density and safety has gained prominence. High-energy-density lithium batteries, employed in next-generation energy storage devices, rely on nickel-rich cathode materials. Since they have extremely high charge/discharge capacity, high operating voltage, prolonged cycle life, and lower cost, nickel-rich cathode materials such as Ni-rich NCM (LiNiCoMnO) and Ni-rich NCA (LiNiCoAlO) are of particular interest to researchers.

Flexing the Spectrum: Advancements and Prospects of Flexible Electrochromic Materials.

The application potential of flexible electrochromic materials for wearable devices, smart textiles, flexible displays, electronic paper, and implantable biomedical devices is enormous. These materials offer the advantages of conformability and mechanical robustness, making them highly desirable for these applications. In this review, we comprehensively examine the field of flexible electrochromic materials, covering topics such as synthesis methods, structure design, electrochromic mechanisms, and current applications.

Interface engineering of NiP/MoO decorated NiFeP nanosheets for enhanced alkaline hydrogen evolution reaction at high current densities.

The rational design of high-performance non-noble metal electrocatalysts at large current densities is important for the development of sustainable energy conversion devices such as alkaline water electrolyzers. However, improving the intrinsic activity of those non-noble metal electrocatalysts remains a great challenge. Therefore, NiP/MoO decorated three-dimensional (3D) NiFeP nanosheets (NiFeP@NiP/MoO) with abundant interfaces were synthesized using facile hydrothermal and phosphorization methods.

Catalytic Chemistry Derived Artificial Solid Electrolyte Interphase for Stable Lithium Metal Anodes Working at 20 mA cm and 20 mAh cm.

A stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer is crucial for lithium metal anode (LMA) to survive in long-term cycling. However, chaotic structures and chemical inhomogeneity of natural SEI make LMA suffering from exasperating dendrite growth and severe electrode pulverization, which hinder the practical application of LMAs. Here, we design a catalyst-derived artificial SEI layer with an ordered polyamide-lithium hydroxide (PA-LiOH) bi-phase structure to modulate ion transport and enable dendrite-free Li deposition.

DFT Study on the Oxidation Mechanism of Common Cyclic Carbonates in the Presence of BF Anions.

Oxidative decomposition reactions of common cyclic carbonates in the presence of BF anions were investigated using density functional theory. A polarized continuum model was utilized to model solvent effects in the oxidation of ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene carbonate (PC) clusters. We have found that the presence of BF significantly reduces EC and PC oxidation stability, from 7.

Facile Deposition of the LiFePO Cathode by the Electrophoresis Method.

Lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO, LFP) is one of the most advanced commercial cathode materials for Li-ion batteries and is widely applied as battery cells for electric vehicles. In this work, a thin and uniform LFP cathode film on a conductive carbon-coated aluminum foil was besieged by the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique. Along with the LFP deposition conditions, the impact of two types of binders, poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVdF) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), on the film quality and electrochemical results has been studied.

Polycationic doping of the LATP ceramic electrolyte for Li-ion batteries.

All-solid-state Li-ion batteries (LIBs) with a solid electrolyte instead of a liquid one demonstrate significantly higher safety in contrast with the conventional liquid-based LIBs. An inorganic NASICON-type Li conductor LiAlTi(PO) (LATP) is a promising solid electrolyte with an ionic conductivity of up to 10 S cm at room temperature. However, LATP gradually degrades in contact with Li metal because of reduction of Ti to Ti, resulting in a lower ionic conductivity at the electrolyte-electrode interface.

Polyacrylonitrile Porous Membrane-Based Gel Polymer Electrolyte by In Situ Free-Radical Polymerization for Stable Li Metal Batteries.

Because of their high ionic conductivity, utilizing gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) is thought to be an effective way to accomplish high-energy-density batteries. Nevertheless, most GPEs have poor adaptability to Ni-rich cathodes to alleviate the problem of inevitable rapid capacity decay during cycling. Therefore, to match LiNiCoMnO (NCM811), we applied pentaerythritol tetraacrylate (PETEA) monomers to polymerize in situ in a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane to obtain GPEs (PETEA-TCGG-PAN).

Annealing Optimization of Lithium Cobalt Oxide Thin Film for Use as a Cathode in Lithium-Ion Microbatteries.

The microbatteries field is an important direction of energy storage systems, requiring the careful miniaturization of existing materials while maintaining their properties. Over recent decades, LiCoO has attracted considerable attention as cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries due to its promising electrochemical properties for high-performance batteries. In this work, the thin films of LiCoO were obtained by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering of the corresponding target.

Interface Engineering of NiS@MnOH Nanorods to Efficiently Enhance Overall-Water-Splitting Activity and Stability.

Three-dimensional (3D) core-shell heterostructured NiS@MnOH nanorods grown on nickel foam (NiS@MnOH/NF) were successfully fabricated via a simple hydrothermal reaction and a subsequent electrodeposition process. The fabricated NiS@MnOH/NF shows outstanding bifunctional activity and stability for hydrogen evolution reaction and oxygen evolution reaction, as well as overall-water-splitting performance. The main origins are the interface engineering of NiS@MnOH, the shell-protection characteristic of MnOH, and the 3D open nanorod structure, which remarkably endow the electrocatalyst with high activity and stability.

Heterogeneous Bimetallic Organic Coordination Polymer-Derived Co/Fe@NC Bifunctional Catalysts for Rechargeable Li-O Batteries.

The Li-O battery has attracted substantial attention due to its high theoretical energy density. In particular, high-efficiency oxygen catalysts are very important for the design of practical Li-O batteries. Herein, we have synthesized heterogeneous crystalline-coated partially crystalline bimetallic organic coordination polymers (PC@C-BMOCPs), which are further pyrolyzed to obtain Co- and Fe-based nanoparticles embedded within rodlike N-doped carbon (Co/Fe@NC) as a bifunctional oxygen reduction reaction/oxygen evolution reaction (ORR/OER) catalyst used in the Li-O battery.

MnO -Decorated Nickel-Iron Phosphides Nanosheets: Interface Modifications for Robust Overall Water Splitting at Ultra-High Current Densities.

Exploring highly active and stable bifunctional water-splitting electrocatalysts at ultra-high current densities is remarkably desirable. Herein, 3D nickel-iron phosphides nanosheets modified by MnO nanoparticles are grown on nickel foam (MnO /NiFeP/NF). Resulting from the electronic coupling effect enabled by interface modifications, the intrinsic activities of the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are improved.

Mixed ionic/electronic conducting nanosheet arrays for stable lithium storage.

Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) have received extensive attention and research interest as high specific energy systems. However, the issues of Li dendrites growth in LMBs restrict their practical applications. The development of lithiophilic collectors can effectively solve the issues of Li dendrites growth.

Rational design of a cobalt sulfide nanoparticle-embedded flexible carbon nanofiber membrane electrocatalyst for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries.

Both the sluggish redox kinetics and severe polysulfide shuttling behavior hinders the commercialization of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. To solve these obstacles, we design a cobalt sulfide nanoparticle-embedded flexible carbon nanofiber membrane (denoted as CoS@NCF) as sulfiphilic functional interlayer materials. The hierarchically porous structure of carbon nanofiber is conducive to immobilizing sulfur species and facilitating lithium-ion penetration.

Sn modified nanoporous Ge for improved lithium storage performance.

Although high-capacity germanium (Ge) has been regarded as the promising anode material for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), its actual performance is far from expectation because of low electrical conductivity and rapid capacity decay during cycling. In this work, Sn modified nanoporous Ge materials with different Ge/Sn atomic ratios in precursors were synthesized by a simple melt-spinning and dealloying strategy. As the anodes of LIBs, Sn modified nanoporous Ge materials display improved cycling stability compared with Sn-free nanoporous Ge, revealing a potential role of Sn in improving electrochemical properties of Ge-based anodes.

Prussian blue analogs derived Fe-Ni-P@nitrogen-doped carbon composites as sulfur host for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have drawn a lot of attention owing to the high theoretical capacity of 1675 mAh g, environmental friendliness and relative abundance of sulfur. Nevertheless, the severe dissolution and migration of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and poor conductivity of sulfur greatly hinder the practical application of Li-S batteries. In this work, Fe-Ni-P@nitrogen-doped carbon (named as Fe-Ni-P@NC) derived from Fe-Ni Prussian blue analog (Fe-Ni PBA) was used as highly efficient sulfur host for Li-S batteries.

Improving the cycling stability of three-dimensional nanoporous Ge anode by embedding Ag nanoparticles for high-performance lithium-ion battery.

Due to huge volume expansion and poor electrical conductivity, the commercial application of the promising Germanium (Ge) anode is restrained in lithium ion battery (LIB) field. Generally, conductive metals can improve the electron mobility in Ge. In that way, whether active materials or conductive metals account for a higher proportion in the anode is controversial in this field and needs to be clarified urgently.