Progress toward fast-charging lithium-metal batteries
By growing uniform lithium crystals on a surprising surface, engineers
open a new door to fast-charging lithium-metal batteries

Date:
February 9, 2023
Source:
University of California - San Diego
Summary:
Engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that
charge fast -- as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to
lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown -- quickly and
uniformly -- on a surprising surface. The trick is to use a crystal
growing surface that lithium officially doesn't 'like.' From these
seed crystals grow dense layers of uniform lithium metal. Uniform
layers of lithium metal are of great interest to battery researchers
because they lack battery- performance-degrading spikes called
dendrites.


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FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a new Nature Energy paper, engineers report progress toward
lithium-metal batteries that charge fast -- as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown
-- quickly and uniformly -- on a surprising surface. The trick is to use a crystal growing surface that lithium officially doesn't "like." From these
seed crystals grow dense layers of uniform lithium metal. Uniform layers
of lithium metal are of great interest to battery researchers because
they lack battery-performance-degrading spikes called dendrites. The
formation of these dendrites in battery anodes is a longstanding roadblock
to fast-charging ultra-energy-dense lithium-metal batteries.


==========================================================================
This new approach, led by University of California San Diego engineers,
enables charging of lithium-metal batteries in about an hour, a speed
that is competitive against today's lithium-ion batteries. The UC San
Diego engineers, in collaboration with UC Irvine imaging researchers,
published this advance aimed at developing fast-charging lithium-metal batteries on Feb. 9, 2023 in Nature Energy.

To grow lithium metal crystals, the researchers replaced the ubiquitous
copper surfaces on the negative side (the anode) of lithium-metal
batteries with a lithiophobic nanocomposite surface made of lithium
fluoride (LiF) and iron (Fe). Using this lithiophobic surface for
lithium deposition, lithium crystal seeds formed, and from these seeds
grew dense lithium layers -- even at high charging rates. The result
was long-cycle-life lithium-metal batteries that can be charged quickly.

"The special nanocomposite surface is the discovery," said UC San
Diego nanoengineering professor Ping Liu, the senior author on the new
paper. "We challenged the traditional notion of what kind of surface is
needed to grow lithium crystals. The prevailing wisdom is that lithium
grows better on surfaces that it likes, surfaces that are lithiophilic. In
this work, we show that is not always true. The substrate we use does
not like lithium. However, it provides abundant nucleation sites along
with fast surface lithium movement.

These two factors lead to the growth of these beautiful crystals. This
is a nice example of a scientific insight solving a technical problem."
The new advance led by UC San Diego nanoengineers could eliminate a
significant roadblock that is holding back widespread use of energy-dense lithium-metal batteries for applications like electric vehicles (EVs)
and portable electronics. While lithium-metal batteries hold great
potential for EVs and portable electronics because of their high charge density, today's lithium- metal batteries must be charged extremely
slowly in order to maintain battery performance and avoid safety
problems. The slow charging is necessary to minimize the formation of battery-performance-wrecking lithium dendrites that form as lithium
ions join with electrons to form lithium crystals on the anode side of
the battery. Lithium crystals build up as the battery charges, and the
lithium crystals dissolve as the battery discharges.

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========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
University_of_California_-_San_Diego. Original written by Daniel
Kane. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Zhaohui Wu, Chunyang Wang, Zeyu Hui, Haodong Liu, Shen Wang,
Sicen Yu,
Xing Xing, John Holoubek, Qiushi Miao, Huolin L. Xin & Ping
Liu. Growing single-crystalline seeds on lithiophobic substrates
to enable fast- charging lithium-metal batteries. Nature Energy,
2023 DOI: 10.1038/ s41560-023-01202-1 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/02/230209114730.htm

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