Coupling a Sponge Metal Fibers Skeleton with In Situ Surface Engineering to Achieve Advanced Electrodes for Flexible Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) are regarded as promising next‐generation energy storage systems, however, the uncontrollable dendrite formation and serious polysulfide shuttling severely hinder their commercial success. Herein, a powerful 3D sponge nickel (SN) skeleton plus in situ surface engineering strategy, to address these issues synergistically, is reported, and a high‐performance flexible LSB device is constructed. Specifically, the rationally designed spray‐quenched lithium metal on the SN matrix (solid electrolyte interface (SEI)@Li/SN), as dendrite inhibitor, combines the merits of the 3D lithiophilic SN skeleton and the in situ formed SEI layer derived from the spray‐quenching process, and thereby exhibits a steady overpotential within 75 mV for 1500 h at 5 mA cm−2/10 mA h cm−2. Meanwhile, in situ surface sulfurization of the SN skeleton hybridizing with the carbon/sulfur composite (SC@Ni3S2/SN) serves as efficient lithium polysulfide adsorbent to catalyze the overall reaction kinetics. COMSOL Multiphysics simulations and density functional theory calculations are further conducted to explore the underlying mechanisms. As a proof of concept, the well‐designed SEI@Li/SN||SC@Ni3S2/SN full cell shows excellent electrochemical performance with a negative/positive ratio in capacity of ≈2 and capacity retention of 99.82% at 1 C under mechanical deformation. The novel design principles of these materials and electrodes successfully shed new light on the development of flexible LSBs.

Multifunctional Hyphae Carbon Powering Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…3) 3D RHCFs network provides a stable scaffold for Li stripping/deposition and reduces the volume change of anode during cycling. [ 46 ]…”

Sn Alloying to Inhibit Hydrogen Evolution of Zn Metal Anode in Rechargeable Aqueous Batteries

“…The high price, limited resources, and safety issues are still major concerns of lithium-ion batteries, although they have been widely applied in portable electronic devices, and electric vehicles in recent years. [1][2][3][4] In this regard, rechargeable aqueous batteries with natural abundance and non-flammable properties have attracted much attention, such as magnesium ion batteries, [5][6][7] aluminum ion batteries, [8][9][10] sodium-ion battery, [11] and zinc ion batteries (ZIBs). [12][13][14] Comparing with other aqueous metal batteries, zinc (Zn) metal as the anode for aqueous batteries has been widely studied due to its high theoretical capacity (820 mAh g −1 ), low redox potential (−0.76 V versus standard hydrogen electrode) and excellent water compatibility.…”

A Perspective on the Behavior of Lithium Anodes under a Magnetic Field

“…With the increasing demands on high‐energy storage systems, [ 1–3 ] lithium metal‐based batteries, such as lithium–sulfur and lithium–air batteries, have been a major research focus in the last decade, due to their high energy density. [ 4–10 ] However, the use of lithium anode in these batteries involves severe problems including lithium dendrites‐induced short circuits and poor cyclability caused by the continuous decomposition of electrolyte and generation of “dead lithium” upon cycling. It is reported recently that the presence of magnetic field can improve the cycling performance of lithium anodes and prevent the growth of lithium dendrites.…”