No abstract

No abstract

Owing to the natural abundance of sodium resources and their low price, next-generation batteries employing an Na metal anode, such as Na-O and Na-S systems, have attracted a great deal of interest. However, the poor reversibility of an Na metal electrode during repeated electrochemical plating and stripping is a major obstacle to realizing rechargeable sodium metal batteries. It mainly originates from Na dendrite formation and exhaustive electrolyte decomposition due to the high reactivity of Na metal. Herein, we report a free-standing composite protective layer (FCPL) for enhancing the reversibility of an Na metal electrode by mechanically suppressing Na dendritic growth and mitigating the electrolyte decomposition. A systematic variation of the liquid electrolyte uptake of FCPL verifies the existence of a critical shear modulus for suppressing Na dendrite growth, being in good agreement with a linear elastic theory, and emphasizes the importance of the ionic conductivity of FCPL for attaining uniform Na plating and stripping. The Na-Na symmetric cell with an optimized FCPL exhibits a cycle life two times longer than that of a bare Na electrode.

Interfacial stability is one of the crucial factors for long-term cyclability of lithium (Li) metal batteries (LMBs). While cross-contamination phenomena have been well-studied in Li-ion batteries (LIBs), similar phenomena have rarely been reported in LMBs. Here, we investigated cathode failure triggered by chemical crossover from the anode in LMBs. In contrast to LIBs, the cathode in LMBs suffers more significant capacity fading, and its capacity cannot be fully recovered by replacing the Li anode. In-depth surface characterization reveals severe deterioration related to the accumulation of highly resistive polymeric components in the cathode–electrolyte interphase. The soluble byproducts generated by extensive electrolyte decomposition at the Li metal surface can diffuse toward the cathode side, resulting in severe deterioration of the cathode and separator surfaces. A selective Li-ion permeable separator with a polydopamine coating has been developed to mitigate the detrimental chemical crossover and enhance the cathode stability.

Uncontrolled growth of insulating lithium sulfide leads to passivation of sulfur cathodes, which limits high sulfur utilization in lithium-sulfur batteries. Sulfur utilization can be augmented in electrolytes based on solvents with high Gutmann Donor Number; however, violent lithium metal corrosion is a drawback. Here we report that particulate lithium sulfide growth can be achieved using a salt anion with a high donor number, such as bromide or triflate. The use of bromide leads to ~95 % sulfur utilization by suppressing electrode passivation. More importantly, the electrolytes with high-donor-number salt anions are notably compatible with lithium metal electrodes. The approach enables a high sulfur-loaded cell with areal capacity higher than 4 mA h cm−2 and high sulfur utilization ( > 90 %). This work offers a simple but practical strategy to modulate lithium sulfide growth, while conserving stability for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.