Multiscale observation of Li plating for lithium-ion batteries

As the most hazardous side reaction,Li plating poses high risks of undermining electrochemical performance of Li-ion batteries by accelerating degradation.Under some extreme abuse conditions,Li plating can even jeopardize safety performance and induce catastrophic results like thermal runaway.Therefore,multiscale observation of Li plating is of great significance for understanding the internal mechanisms and early detection of Li plating.In this mini-review,the recent progress of formation mechanisms of plated metallic lithium was introduced.Then,the in situ and ex situ observation methods of macroscopic,microscopic and atomic level were summarized.Reference electrode provides a promising tool for real-time monitoring of anode potential,which is the critical factor of Li plating,showing great potentials in cloudbased battery management systems.Finally,some perspectives for future researches on Li plating observation and corresponding utilizations in developing Li plating free control strategies were proposed.

CHAIN:unlocking informatics-aided design of Li metal anode from materials to applications

With the rapid development of consumer electronics,electric vehicles and grid-scale stationary energy storage,high-energy batteries are urgently demanded at present.Lithium metal batteries(LMBs)are considered to be one of the most promising high-energy density energy storage devices at present and have received much attention due to their ultra-high theoretical capacity,extremely low electrochemical potential and light mass.However,critical issues,such as uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth,dynamic changes in volume,interfacial impedance,severe chemical and electrochemical corrosion,remain huge challenges for Li metal anodes,which not only lead to low Columbic efficiency of LMBs,but also pose the risk of internal short circuit,causing serious side reactions and safety concerns that hinder LMBs from practical applications.Nevertheless,lithium metal is gradually poised for a revival after decades of oblivion,due to the development of research tools and nanotechnologybased solutions.In this review,various recent material designs for lithium metal anodes are reviewed based on previous theoretical understanding and analysis.Suppressing Li dendrites and ensuring the long life span of practical batteries through limited Li metal anodes design are still challenges.Multi-scale modeling methods are concerned,requiring the application of electrode material development.Hybrid multi-scale modeling application methods with machine learning technology are proposed based on the cloud computing platform.Computational material designs for Li metal anodes on model information are integrated with artificial intelligence.Finally,this review provides a novel framework for next-generation lithium metal anode design methods with a digital solution based on multi-scale data-driven models and machine learning techniques.

Ultra-high-energy lithium-ion batteries enabled by aligned structured thick electrode design

Battery manufacturing holds great promise to build highperformance electrodes with fine-controlled microstructure,geometry and thickness.However,thick electrodes face concomitant challenge of the sluggish transport of both electrons and Li ions.Here,we present a thick electrode with an aligned structure,as an alternative to achieve high-energy lithium-ion batteries.The freeze-drying process with the aid of gum binder and single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNT)is originally developed for preparing the LiNi_(0.8)Co_(0.1)Mn_(0.1)O_(2))(NCM811)-based aligned structured thick electrode as the representative cathode electrode material.The 1-mm-thick cathode with mass loading of 101 mg·cm^(-2) achieves a high specific capacity of 203.4 mAh·g^(-1).Moreover,the as-prepared ultra-thick electrodes with a high mass loading of 538 mg·cm^(-2) and high active material content of 99.5 wt%are successfully demonstrated,delivering an extremely high areal capacity of 93.4 mAh·cm^(-2),which represents a>30-times improvement compared to that of the commercial electrode.This design opens an effective avenue for greener,scalable and sustainable manufacturing processes toward energy storage devices and other related practical applications.

Fabrication of AQ2S/GR composite photosensitizer for the simulated solar light-driven degradation of sulfapyridine

Chlorination has been intensively investigated for use in water disinfection and pollutant elimination due to its efficacy and convenience;however,the generation and transportation of chlorine and hypochlorite are energy-consuming and complicated.In this study,a novel binary photosensitizer consisting of anthraquinone-2-sulfonate(AQ2S)and graphene was synthesized via a p-p stack adsorption method;this compound could allow for the chlorination of organic pollutants using on-site chlorine generation.In this photosensitive degradation process,sulfapyridine(SPY)was selected as a model pollutant and was decomposed by the reactive species(Cl2
-,Cl
and O2
-)generated during the photosensitive oxidation of chloride.The synthesized AQ2S/graphene exhibited superior activity,and the degradation rate of SPY was over 90%after 12 h of visible light irradiation with a kinetic constant of 0.2034h1.Results show that 20 mg AQ2S/GR at a 21%weight percentage of AQ2S in a pH 7 SPY solution with 1 mol/L Clachieved the highest kinetics rate at 0.353 h1.Free radical trapping experiments demonstrated that Cl2
-and O2
-were the dominant species involved in SPY decomposition under solar light.The reusability and stability of this composite were verified by conducting a cycle experiment over five successive runs.The capacity of photodegradation still remained over 90%after these 5 runs.The current study provides an energyefficient and simple-operational approach for water phase SPY control.