Batteries

Ternary metal sulfides are projected as advanced lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes due to their superior electronic conductivity and specific capacity compared to their respective oxide counterparts. Herein, a porous composite of cuboidal FeNi₂S₄ (FNS) with 2D reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and 1D multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (composite name: [email protected]) synthesised by an in-situ single-step hydrothermal process. The 1D/2D combined thin carbon coatings on the FeNi₂S₄ prevent aggregation during battery performance by increasing conductivity and resisting the volume changes at lithiation/de-lithiation processes. Consequently, the [email protected] composite exhibits a commending electrochemical performance with a charge capacity of 797 mAh g⁻¹ and a first cycle coulombic efficiency of ~67% with reversible capacity restoration property and excellent long-term cycling stability. Furthermore, [email protected]//LiFePO₄ full cell reveals its practical applicability as a LIB anode with a reversible capacity of 77 mAh g⁻¹ at 50 mA g⁻¹ current density. Full article

The accurate estimation of the state of charge (SOC) for lithium-ion batteries’ performance prediction and durability evaluation is of paramount importance, which is significant to ensure reliability and stability for electric vehicles. The SOC estimation approaches based on big data collection and offline adjustment could result in imprecision for SOC estimation under various driving conditions at different temperatures. In the traditional GM(1,1), the initialization condition and the identifying parameter could not be changed as soon as they are confirmed. Aiming at the requirements of battery SOC estimation with non-linear characteristics of a dynamic battery system, the paper presents a method of battery state estimation based on Metabolic Even GM(1,1) to expand battery state data and introduce temperature factors in the estimation process to make SOC estimation more accurate. The latest information data used in the optimized rolling model is introduced through the data cycle updating. The experimental results show that the optimized MEGM(1,1) effectively considers the influence of initial data, and has higher accuracy than the traditional GM(1,1) model in the application of data expansion. Furthermore, it could effectively solve the problem of incomplete battery information and battery capacity fluctuation, and the dynamic performance is satisfactory to meet the requirements of fast convergence. The SOC estimation based on the presented strategy for power batteries at different temperatures could reach the goal of the overall error within 1% under CLTC conditions with well robustness and accuracy. Full article

The development of robust and efficient electrocatalysts for use in fuel cells and metal–air batteries has garnered a great deal of interest due to the quest for clean and renewable energy sources. In this paper, a promising Co-doped Pr_0.5Ba_0.4Ca_0.1Fe_1-xCo_xO_3-δ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8; denoted as PBCFC-x, x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8) with enhanced durability and electrocatalytic ORR/OER activity for zinc–air battery cathode catalysts is presented. Particularly, PBCFC-6 exhibits the best bifunctional catalytic activity in alkaline media among several materials, according to research using the RDE. The zinc–air battery with PBCFC-6 as the cathode catalyst delivered the smallest discharge–charge voltage difference at the current density of 10 mA·cm⁻² and only increased by 0.031 V after 220 cycles (220 h), demonstrating its superior bifunctional catalytic activity and durability. The optimized electrochemical performance of both OER and ORR as well as stability in zinc–air batteries might result from the higher electrical conductivity, increasing concentration of adsorbed oxygen, and the greater proportion of Fe⁴⁺ (t_2g³e_g¹) with optimal electron occupancy, owing to the partial replacement of Fe with Co. Full article

Nitrogen-doped, 3-dimensional graphene (N3DG), synthesized as a one-step thermal CVD process, was further functionalized with atmospheric pressure oxygen plasma. Electrodes were fabricated and tested based on the functionalized N3DG. Their characterization included scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET), and electrochemical measurements. The tested electrodes revealed a 208% increase in the specific capacitance compared to pristine 3D graphene electrodes in a three-electrode configuration. The performed doping and plasma treatment enabled an increase in the electrode‘s surface area by 4 times compared to pristine samples. Furthermore, the XPS results revealed the presence of nitrogen and oxygen functional groups in the doped and functionalized material. Symmetric supercapacitors assembled from the functionalized 3D graphene using aqueous and organic electrolytes were compared for electrochemical performance. The device with ionic electrolyte EMIMB₄ electrolyte exhibited a superior energy density of 54 Wh/kg and power density of 1224 W/kg. It also demonstrated a high-cyclic stability of 15,000 cycles with a capacitance retention of 107%. Full article

A novel energy storage mode based on the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) concept will be greatly researched and applied as a new green solution to energy and environmental problems. However, the existing research on battery capacity decline in V2G applications has mainly focused on modeling the battery capacity to investigate its decline during vehicle charging and discharging, in order to reduce the battery capacity decline and evaluate its economics. A car-following model with the acceleration generalized force coupled with external resistance is proposed in the paper. A linear stability analysis was used to analyze the stability of the model. The stability of the traffic flow was improved when the value of the resistance coefficient increases. Then, the currents of different vehicles were also calculated according to the velocities. Moreover, the effect of different physical characteristics of driving on the decline of distributed energy storage batteries in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) was investigated. The results suggest that in different road types and road slopes, vehicles which are at the end of the platoon position have less battery capacity degradation and better battery condition. It provides a reference for subsequent research related to V2G energy storage in the context of vehicle networking. Full article

The effect of different nitrogen-doped carbon additives (carbon coating from polyaniline, N-doped carbon nanotubes, and N-doped carbon nanoparticles) on electrochemical performance of nanocomposites based on the olivine-type LiFePO₄ was investigated. Prepared materials were characterized by XRD, SEM, TGA-MS, CHNS-analysis, IR-, Raman, and impedance spectroscopies. Polyaniline deposition on the LiFePO₄ precursor with following annealing lead to the formation of a LiFePO₄/C nanocomposite with a carbon coating doped with nitrogen. Due to nitrogen atoms presence in carbon coating, the LiFePO₄/N-doped carbon nanocomposites showed enhanced conductivity and C-rate capability. The discharge capacities of the synthesized materials in LIBs were close to the theoretical value at 0.1 C and retained high values with increasing current density. At high C-rates, the best results were obtained for a more dispersed LiFePO₄/C composite with carbon coating prepared from polyaniline previously in situ deposited on LiFePO₄ precursor particles. Its discharge capacity reached 96, 84, 73, and 47 mAh g⁻¹ at 5, 10, 20, and 60 C-rates, respectively. Full article

Solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs) have made significant progress in recent decades in response to increasing demands for improved safety and higher energy density. Nonetheless, the current state SSLBs are not suitable for wide commercial applications. The low ionic conductivity, lithium dendrites growth, and unstable interfaces between solid electrodes and electrolytes are some of the challenges that need to be overcome. Therefore, it is critical to fully comprehend the structural information of SSLBs at a nanometer scale. Neutron-based techniques (NBTs) are sensitive to light elements (H, Li, B, N, O, etc.) and can distinguish heavy metals (e.g., Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, etc.) containing close atomic numbers or even isotopes (e.g., ¹H and ²H). Therefore, NBTs are important and powerful structural and analytical tools for SSLB research and have substantially improved our understanding of these processes. To provide real-time monitoring, researchers have explored many sophisticated in situ NBTs to investigate the underlying mechanisms of SSLBs. This minireview article is primarily dedicated to the investigation of SSLBs using in situ NBTs. In addition, it illustrates the capabilities of different in situ NBTs on SSLBs by illustrating the capabilities of different techniques in recently published works. Ultimately, some perspectives for the next evolution of in situ NBTs in SSLBs are highlighted. Full article

In the battery field, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) attract much attention due to their potential as a supporting conducting material for anodes or cathodes. The performance of cathodes or anodes can be optimized by introducing densely packed CNTs, which can be achieved with high dispersibility. The efficiency of CNT usage can be maximized by enhancing their dispersibility. An effective technique to this end is to incorporate surfactants on the surface of CNTs. The surfactant produces a surface charge that can increase the zeta potential of CNTs, thereby preventing their agglomeration. Additionally, surfactants having long chains of tail groups can increase the steric hindrance, which also enhances the dispersibility. Notably, the dispersibility of CNTs depends on the type of surfactant. Therefore, the results of dispersibility studies of CNTs involving different surfactants must be comprehensively reviewed to enhance the understanding of the effects of different surfactants on dispersibility. Consequently, this paper discusses the effect of different types of surfactants on the dispersibility of CNTs and presents several perspectives for future research on dispersibility enhancement. Full article

High energy density lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) are a potential replacement for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, practical lifetimes are inhibited by lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling. Concurrently, plastic waste accumulation worldwide threatens our ecosystems. Herein, a fast and facile strategy to upcycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste into useful materials is investigated. Dilithium terephthalate (Li₂TP) and dipotassium terephthalate (K₂TP) salts were synthesized from waste soda bottles via microwave depolymerization and solution coated onto glass fiber paper (GFP) separators. Salt-functionalized separators with Li₂[email protected] and K₂[email protected] mitigated LiPS shuttling and improved electrochemical performance in cells. Pore analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate the action mechanism is synergistic physical blocking of bulky LiPS anions in nanopores and diffusion inhibition via electrostatic interactions with abundant carboxylate groups. LSBs with K₂[email protected] separator showing highest LiPS affinity and smallest pore size demonstrated enhanced initial capacity as compared to non-modified GFP by 5.4% to 648 mAh g⁻¹, and increased cycle 100 capacity by 23% to 551 mAh g⁻¹. Overall, K₂[email protected] retained 85% of initial capacity after 100 cycles with an average capacity fading of 0.15% per cycle. By comparison, GFP retained only 73% of initial capacity after 100 cycles with 0.27% average capacity loss, demonstrating effective LiPS retention. Full article

Irreversible phase transition caused capacity fading has been considered as an obstacle for rechargeable batteries. An in-depth investigation of the irreversible phase transition is critical for understanding the reaction mechanism and developing advanced batteries. In this work, taking vanadium oxide and its alkali ion-stabilized intercalation compounds (A-V-O, A = Li, Na, K) as prototypes, utilizing operando characterizations, we discovered coupled discontinuous (interlayer)-continuous (intralayer) transitions in the stabilized multielectron intercalation cathodes. The highly ordered crystal of vanadium pentoxide irreversibly transfers to a disordered/amorphous structure after the first cycle, whereas A-V-O enables reversible discontinuous lattice transitions at the interlayer pathway for facilitating lithium diffusion. Among the A-V-O family, K-V-O, with the highest capacity retention, shows a coupled discontinuous-continuous transition, which exhibits a continuous transition and the minimum volume change at the V-O intralayer during lithium intercalation/deintercalation. These coupled discontinuous-continuous lattice transitions were captured for the first time in cathode materials. It implies that the suitable ion intercalation induced continuous intralayer transition inhibits the irreversible ion intercalation and phase transition. Full article

Lithium titanate (Li₄Ti₅O₁₂) is a commercial anode material used for high-power and long-lifespan lithium batteries. The key drawback of this material is its low electronic conductivity. Although doping is commonly used to solve this problem, the introduction of dopants also diminished lattice stability. In this work, we studied fast and slow laser-induced degradation processes of single Mn-doped lithium titanate particles and proposed a physicochemical model of their degradation mechanism. We suppose that the preferable route of LTO alteration is the formation of amorphous phases rather than crystalline decomposition products. Our results may be useful for not only developing a nondestructive characterization tool utilizing Raman spectroscopy but also for understanding other degradation processes, including thermal alteration and structural changes caused by the intercalation/deintercalation cycles of lithium ions. Full article

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in electric vehicles (EV) and energy storage stations (ESS). However, combustion and explosion accidents during the thermal runaway (TR) process limit its further applications. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the uncontrolled TR exothermic reaction for safe battery system design. In this study, different LIBs are tested by lateral heating in a closed experimental chamber filled with nitrogen. Moreover, the relevant thermal characteristic parameters, gas composition, and deflagration limit during the battery TR process are calculated and compared. Results indicate that the TR behavior of NCM batteries is more severe than that of LFP batteries, and the TR reactions becomes more severe with the increase of energy density. Under the inert atmosphere of nitrogen, the primarily generated gases are H₂, CO, CO₂, and hydrocarbons. The TR gas deflagration limits and characteristic parameter calculations of different cathode materials are refined and summarized, guiding safe battery design and battery selection for power systems. Full article

Limited by the service life, a large amount of spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been produced in recent years. Without proper disposal, spent LIBs can cause environmental pollution and waste of resources. In this paper, we focus on the recycling of the graphite anode (GA) in spent LIBs. GAs from spent LIBs were converted to graphene oxide (GO) through a modified Hummers method. Then the prepared GO was applied to absorb methylene blue in dyeing wastewater under different reaction conditions. The experimental results indicate that GO can quickly and effectively adsorb methylene blue, which also exhibits thermal stability. The maximum adsorption capacity and removal rate are about 833.11 mg/g and 99.95%, respectively. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms were investigated; the adsorption process of GO is more consistent with the pseudo-second-order adsorption kinetic model while the isotherm is close to the Langmuir isotherm. This study is of great significance for the economy and environment. The reaction can turn waste into wealth and is a win-win approach for both spent LIBs recycling and dyeing wastewater cleaning. Full article

The frequent safety accidents involving lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have aroused widespread concern around the world. The safety standards of LIBs are of great significance in promoting usage safety, but they need to be constantly upgraded with the advancements in battery technology and the extension of the application scenarios. This study comprehensively reviews the global safety standards and regulations of LIBs, including the status, characteristics, and application scope of each standard. A standardized test for thermal runaway triggering is also introduced. The recent fire accidents in electric vehicles and energy storage power stations are discussed in relation to the upgrading of the rational test standards. Finally, the following four suggestions for improving battery safety are proposed to optimize the safety standards: (1) early warning and cloud alarms for the battery’s thermal runaway; (2) an innovative structural design for a no-fire battery pack; (3) the design of a fire water injection interface for the battery pack; (4) the design of an immersive energy storage power station. This study provides insights for promoting the effectiveness of relevant safety standards for LIBs, thereby reducing the failure hazards. Full article

Silicon carbide has structural strength, high electronic conductivity, low diffusion barrier and high storage capacity, which are suitable for engineering applications such as lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, uninterruptible power supplies and SiC diodes. In particular, 3C-SiC monolayers oriented along the (1 1 0) crystallographic direction that could have symmetric surfaces have been poorly studied, as have the effects of surface passivation on their physical and electronic properties. In this work, we investigate the influence of lithium on the electronic properties of hydrogenated surfaces in 3C-SiC monolayers using density functional theory. We examine the electronic properties of surfaces fully passivated with hydrogen with those of surfaces fully passivated with lithium and those with mixed passivation. Our results show that only fully hydrogenated surfaces exhibit a direct band-gap, while the full Li, CH+SiLi, and H+Li${}_c$ passivations exhibit metallic behavior. The CLi+SiH, H+1LiC, and H+1LiSi passivation systems decrease the band-gap compared to the hydrogenated case and show an indirect band-gap. The formation energy of the system shows that the most stable arrangement is full-H, followed by H+1LiC, and the most unstable system is full-Li, which has a positive formation energy. Full article

Lithium secondary batteries have been the most successful energy storage devices for nearly 30 years. Until now, graphite was the most mainstream anode material for lithium secondary batteries. However, the lithium storage mechanism of the graphite anode limits the further improvement of the specific capacity. The lithium metal anode, with the lowest electrochemical potential and extremely high specific capacity, is considered to be the optimal anode material for next-generation lithium batteries. However, the lifetime degradation and safety problems caused by dendrite growth have seriously hindered its commercialization. Carbon materials have good electrical conductivity and modifiability, and various carbon materials were designed and prepared for use in lithium metal batteries. Here, we will start by analyzing the problems and challenges faced by lithium metal. Then, the application progress and achievements of various carbon materials in lithium metal batteries are summarized. Finally, the research suggestions are given, and the application feasibility of carbon materials in metal lithium batteries is discussed. Full article

Antimony (Sb) is regarded to be a potential alloying-type anode for lithium-ion batteries due to its excellent electrochemical reversibility and high theoretical specific capacity (660 mA h g⁻¹). However, huge volume expansion accompanying rapid capacity fading seriously hinders its commercial application. Herein, double-carbon-modified spindle-structured [email protected]@NC were constructed via galvanic replacement using a Fe-based metal-organic framework (MOF) with polydopamine-coated-derived [email protected]@NC as reactants. Due to the unique double-carbon-encapsulated structure, the [email protected]@NC anode effectively moderates the volume fluctuation and maintains the integral framework from collapsing during the annealing and cycling process. As lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes, [email protected]@NC attained excellent cycling performance (389 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ after 100 cycles) and superior rate capability (a reversible capacity of 343 mAh g⁻¹ at 2000 mA g⁻¹). Such an MOF-based approach provides an adjustable strategy for Sb-based nanomaterial and shield light on the applications of [email protected]@NC in other fields. Full article

Metal–air batteries hold a competitive energy density and are frequently recommended as a solution for low-cost, environmentally friendly electrochemical energy storage applications. Rechargeable zinc–air batteries are prominently studied future devices for energy storage applications. Up to date and despite substantial efforts over the last decades, it is not commercialized on a broader scale because of inadequate performance. Most essential, the ultimate long-term functional zinc–air battery has yet to be discovered. This challenge should be resolved appropriately before articulating the zinc–air batteries to commercial reality and be deployed widespread. We review the present status and some breakthroughs in rechargeable zinc–air batteries research in the last few years, focusing on the anode-related issues. A critical overview of the last five years of the still less explored but essential aspects of rechargeability in zinc–air batteries, such as zinc utilization, solid electrolyte interface, and cell design is presented, some perspectives on possible solutions are offered. Full article

This study aimed to achieve a clear understanding of the response characteristics of soft pack battery extrusion conditions under various situations. In this study, we chose a LiCoO₂ battery as the research object of the extrusion experiment. First, the repeatability of the extrusion test on the battery was verified. A quasi-static extrusion test was conducted on three groups of batteries in the same state, and the load-displacement curves of the three groups of experimental batteries were almost the same. Then, the influence of the extrusion speed on the battery thermal runaway was studied. The results show that a different extrusion speed has a certain impact on the thermal runaway performance of the battery. The peak load of the battery is lower at a lower speed. Finally, the study found that every 20% change in SOC has a greater impact on the battery response under a squeeze. The larger the SOC, the more severe the battery thermal runaway. Through an analysis of multiple experimental cases, it is possible to have a deeper understanding of the temperature and voltage characteristics of lithium batteries when a thermal runaway occurs, which provides ideas for monitoring the trend of the thermal runaway of electric vehicles. Full article