Improving Cycling Performance of Anode-Free Lithium Batteries by Pressure and Voltage Control

Journal Article · Tue Dec 12 00:00:00 EST 2023 · ACS Energy Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01808· OSTI ID:2337482

Lim, Hyung-Seok ^[1]; Nguyen, Dan Thien ^[1]; Lochala, Joshua A. ^[1]; Cao, Xia ^[1]; Zhang, Ji-Guang ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

The anode-free lithium (Li) batteries (AFLBs) have great potential to provide higher energy density than most other batteries. However, the performance of AFLBs is very sensitive to pressure and other operating parameters, especially for coin cells widely used in AFLB investigations. Therefore, optimizing cell assembly parameters and test protocol is critical to get reliable and comparable results in this field. In this work, the operating voltage range of AFLBs using a localized high concentration electrolyte has been optimized. The morphology of the deposited Li in AFLBs is much more indicting to the pressure than other type of batteries due to the absence of anode active material (i.e. Li) as a pressure cushion layer in the as prepared cells. With an optimized cycling protocol, a thin layer of uniform nucleation sites can be formed in the initial cycle which will facilitate smooth Li desposition/stripping in the subsequent cycles of AFLBs. The solid electrolyte interphase layer formed under optimized pressure and uniform pressure distribution exhibits a good mechanical stability even after long-term cycling. In conclusion, with an optimized cell configuration, the internal pressure in the coin cells has been optimized to improve the cycling performance of AFLBs (Cu||NMC811) with 72% of capacity retention in 100 cycles.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 2337482
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA--189664
• Journal Information: ACS Energy Letters, Journal Name: ACS Energy Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 9; ISSN 2380-8195
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

25 ENERGY STORAGE
Anode-free batteries
Pressure effect
SEI layer
Uniform lithium deposition
improving cycling stability