High Capacity Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries

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Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA
Interests: renewable energy; battery; fuel cell; hydrogen; in situ characterization; nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
Interests: lithium-ion batteries; lithium sulfur batteries; silicon anode; solid state electrolyte; electrode design and fabrication; thermal safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA
Interests: the investigation of material transformation in multimodalities by cross-correlated microscopy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although lithium-ion batteries have been employed in electric vehicles, there is a continuous demand to increase the capacity of battery electrode materials, including both the anode and cathode. Anode materials are predominantly based on four storage mechanisms: intercalation, conversion reactions, alloying reactions, and lithium plating and stripping. The graphite anode, based on intercalation, is currently the only mature and safe anode material used for commercial lithium-ion batteries. However, it has a relatively low capacity of 372 mA h g–1. Many challenges lie in the pathway to a practical and safe anode for other anode materials. In this Special Issue, we seek papers on the design, synthesis, characterization, and mechanistic understanding of high-capacity anode materials for lithium-ion batteries.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Lithium metal anodes;
  • Alloying-type anode materials;
  • Conversion reaction-type anode materials;
  • Carbon-based anode materials;
  • Composite anode materials, such as silicon-graphite composites;
  • Advanced and emerging characterizations of high-capacity anode materials;
  • Interface between solid electrolyte and anode materials;
  • Design of high-capacity anode materials using first-principle computation;
  • The modelling, simulation, and optimization of high-capacity anodes;
  • The advanced manufacturing of high-capacity anode materials;
  • The thermal safety of anode materials.

Prof. Dr. Likun Zhu
Dr. Wenquan Lu
Dr. Yuzi Liu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • lithium-ion battery
  • high-capacity anode
  • advanced characterization
  • alloy anode
  • lithium metal anode
  • conversion reaction anode

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 3297 KiB  
Article
Novel One-Step Production of Carbon-Coated Sn Nanoparticles for High-Capacity Anodes in Lithium-Ion Batteries
by Emma M. H. White, Lisa M. Rueschhoff, Steve W. Martin and Iver E. Anderson
Batteries 2024, 10(11), 386; https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries10110386 - 1 Nov 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1412
Abstract
Lithium-ion batteries offer the highest energy density of any currently available portable energy storage technology. By using different anode materials, these batteries could have an even greater energy density. One material, tin, has a theoretical lithium capacity (994 mAh/g) over three-times higher than [...] Read more.
Lithium-ion batteries offer the highest energy density of any currently available portable energy storage technology. By using different anode materials, these batteries could have an even greater energy density. One material, tin, has a theoretical lithium capacity (994 mAh/g) over three-times higher than commercial carbon anode materials. Unfortunately, to achieve this high capacity, bulk tin undergoes a large volume expansion, and the material pulverizes during cycling, giving a rapid capacity fade. To mitigate this issue, tin must be scaled down to the nano-level to take advantage of unique micromechanics at the nanoscale. Synthesis techniques for Sn nanoparticle anodes are costly and overly complicated for commercial production. A novel one-step process for producing carbon-coated Sn nanoparticles via spark plasma erosion (SPE) shows great promise as a simple, inexpensive production method. The SPE method, characterization of the resulting particles, and their high-capacity reversible electrochemical performance as anodes are described. With only a 10% addition of these novel SPE carbon-coated Sn particles, one anode composition demonstrated a reversible capacity of ~460 mAh/g, achieving the theoretical capacity of that particular electrode formulation. These SPE carbon-coated Sn nanoparticles are drop-in ready for present commercial lithium-ion anode processing and would provide a ~10% increase in the total capacity of current commercial lithium-ion cells. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Capacity Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries)
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14 pages, 2912 KiB  
Article
Bi-Continuous Si/C Anode Materials Derived from Silica Aerogels for Lithium-Ion Batteries
by Yunpeng Shan, Junzhang Wang, Zhou Xu, Shengchi Bai, Yingting Zhu, Xiaoqi Wang and Xingzhong Guo
Batteries 2023, 9(11), 551; https://doi.org/10.3390/batteries9110551 - 10 Nov 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2945
Abstract
Poor cycling performance caused by massive volume expansion of silicon (Si) has always hindered the widespread application of silicon-based anode materials. Herein, bi-continuous silicon/carbon (Si/C) anode materials are prepared via magnesiothermic reduction of silica aerogels followed by pitch impregnation and carbonization. To fabricate [...] Read more.
Poor cycling performance caused by massive volume expansion of silicon (Si) has always hindered the widespread application of silicon-based anode materials. Herein, bi-continuous silicon/carbon (Si/C) anode materials are prepared via magnesiothermic reduction of silica aerogels followed by pitch impregnation and carbonization. To fabricate the expected bi-continuous structure, mesoporous silica aerogel is selected as the raw material for magnesiothermic reduction. It is successfully reduced to mesoporous Si under the protection of NaCl. The as-obtained mesoporous Si is then injected with molten pitch via vacuuming, and the pitch is subsequently converted into carbon at a high temperature. The innovative point of this strategy is the construction of a bi-continuous structure, which features both Si and carbon with a cross-linked structure, which provides an area to accommodate the colossal volume change of Si. The pitch-derived carbon facilitates fast lithium ion transfer, thereby increasing the conductivity of the Si/C anode. It can also diminish direct contact between Si and the electrolyte, minimizing side reactions between them. The obtained bi-continuous Si/C anodes exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with a high initial discharge capacity of 1481.7 mAh g−1 at a current density of 300 mA g−1 and retaining as 813.5 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles and an improved initial Coulombic efficiency of 82%. The as-prepared bi-continuous Si/C anode may have great potential applications in high-performance lithium-ion batteries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Capacity Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries)
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