Deciphering pitting behavior of lithium metal anodes in lithium sulfur batteries

Unambiguous understanding in lithium anode failure mechanism calls for a comprehensive methodology to investigate the coupled morphological,electrochemical and mechanical behaviors during the stripping process.In this work,a mechanistic investigation of the pitting behavior of lithium metal in an electrolyte containing lithium polysulfides in lithium sulfur batteries was developed.It is found that lithium polysulfides could aggravate the nonuniform stripping of lithium electrodes.

Understanding pitting corrosion behavior of AZ91 alloy and its MAO coating in 3.5%NaCl solution by cyclic potentiodynamic polarization

The pitting corrosion behavior of AZ91 alloy before and after micro-oxidation treatment in 3.5%Na Cl solution was investigated by cyclic potentiodynamic polarization(CPDP)and optical and SEM observations of corroded surfaces at different polarization potentials.The CPDP results show that both the alloy and the MAO-coated alloy suffer from pitting corrosion and it is difficult for pits to stop growth once the pits initiates.It is revealed that the air-formed Mg O film on AZ91 alloy,the MAO coating along with corrosion products(mainly Mg(OH))formed during CPDP can significantly influence the kinetics of the redox reactions of Mg,and further influence the propagation behavior of pitting corrosion.The optical and SEM images show that the corrosion products on AZ91 alloy are dense and protective but on the MAO-coated corrosion products are very loose.Such observations support the analyses of CPDP results that pits on AZ91 alloy spread to the width whereas pits on MAO-coated alloy propagate to the depth.Overall,pitting corrosion on the MAO-coated alloy can be very severe once the coating ruptures and post-treatments are necessary to provide a promising corrosion protection for the Mg alloys.

Role of late transition metals on pitting resistance of Zr-Ti-(Cu, Ni,Co)-Al bulk metallic glasses in 0.6 M NaCl aqueous solution

Four quanternary Zr-based bulk metallic glasses（BMGs）were selected,including the Zr_（46）Ti_2Cu_（45）Al_7,Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）,due to their robust glass-forming ability and containing a single species of late transition metal（LTM）in compositions.Their pitting resistances in 0.6 M Na Cl aqueous solution were investigated to examine the role of LTM elements in the alloys,with electrochemical measurements,surface morphology observation and x-ray photoelectron spectrometry analysis.It is shown that in comparision with two Cu-bearing BMGs,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）BMGs exhibited significantly superior resistance to pitting.Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）and Zr_（55）Ti_2Co_（28）Al_（15）BMGs manifested distinct passivation behaviour,because of the formation of surface passive film mainly comprising of Zr O_2,Ti O_2and Al_2O_3.However,no significant differences in the electrochemical resistive properties and thicknesses of passive films were found between Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）and Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）BMGs.Nevertheless,at the passive film/metal interface,copper enrichment took place in Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,whereas the nickel was slightly deficient at the interface in Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）.During pitting propagation,selective dissolution of the zirconium,titanium and aluminum over the copper took place in Zr_（61）Ti_2Cu_（25）Al_（12）,but it was not the case in Zr_（55）Ti_4Ni_（22）Al_（19）.For the two Cu-bearing BMGs,reduction of passive base metal elements in composition resulted in local selective dissolution,even absence of the passivation.