Less is more: a perspective on thinning lithium metal towards high-energy-density rechargeable lithium batteries
Lithium (Li) metal, owing to its high specific capacity and low redox potential as a Li + ion source in rechargeable lithium batteries, shows impressive prospects for electrochemical energy storage. However, engineering Li metal into thin foils has historically remained difficult, owing to its stick...
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| Published in | Chemical Society reviews Vol. 52; no. 8; pp. 2553 - 2572 |
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| Main Authors | , , |
| Format | Journal Article |
| Language | English |
| Published |
England
Royal Society of Chemistry
24.04.2023
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| Subjects | |
| Online Access | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Lithium (Li) metal, owing to its high specific capacity and low redox potential as a Li
+
ion source in rechargeable lithium batteries, shows impressive prospects for electrochemical energy storage. However, engineering Li metal into thin foils has historically remained difficult, owing to its stickiness and fragility upon mechanical rolling. Consequently, using thick Li in battery systems betrays the original target for achieving higher energy density, results in material waste, and creates illusions on evaluating modification strategies for taming the highly reactive Li metal anode. Being apprehensive of this, in the tutorial review, we illustrate the argument of applying thin Li (<50 μm, preferably ≤30 μm) to achieve more realistic and advanced battery systems. A brief overview of Li is sketched first to help understand its role in batteries. Then, the reasons for pursuing thin Li are critically analyzed. Next, seminal technologies enabling the fabrication of thin Li are summarized and compared, which calls for the participation of experts from mechanical engineering, metallurgy, electrochemistry, and other fields. Subsequently, the possible applications of thin Li in batteries are presented. With the deployment of thin Li, there are new challenges and opportunities to encounter and an outlook is afforded thereof. Holy-grail Li metal anodes, combined with the subtraction operation in thickness and compatible modification strategies, would bring about a truly great leap forward in electrochemical energy storage.
This review provides a systematic analysis on the mechanism, fabrication technologies, applications, challenges and future opportunities of applying thin Li for advanced batteries. |
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| Bibliography: | Yunhui Huang received his BS, MS, and PhD from Peking University. He worked with Prof. John B. Goodenough at the University of Texas at Austin from 2004 to 2007. In 2008, he became a Chair Professor of Materials Science at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. In 2017, he built up the Institute of New Energy for Vehicles at Tongji University. His research group mainly works on rechargeable batteries. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2cs00606e Wangyan Wu received his BE degree in Materials Science and Engineering at Tongji University in 2019. He is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tongji University, under the supervision of Prof. Wei Luo. His research interests focus on building LIBs with high energy density and liquid metals. Wei Luo is currently a Professor in the School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tongji University. He received his BE and ME from Northwestern Polytechnical University, and PhD from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Prior to his current position, Wei worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Oregon State University and the University of Maryland (UMD) until being promoted to Assistant Research Professor at UMD. His research interests include solid-state batteries, liquid metals, and high-entropy materials. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 ObjectType-Review-3 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 0306-0012 1460-4744 1460-4744 |
| DOI: | 10.1039/d2cs00606e |