Lithium-ion batteries for sustainable energy storage: recent advances towards new cell configurations

Abstract

The recent advances of the lithium-ion battery concept towards the development of sustainable energy storage systems are herein presented. The study reports on new lithium-ion cells, developed over the last few years with the aim of improving the performance and sustainability of the electrochemical energy storage. Alternative chemistries, involving anode, cathode and electrolyte components, are herein recalled in order to provide an overview of state of the art lithium-ion battery systems, with particular care on the cell configurations currently proposed at the laboratory-scale level. Hence, the review highlights the main issues related to full cell assembly, which have been tentatively addressed by limited number of reports, while many recent papers describe material investigation in half-cells, i.e., employing lithium metal anode. The new battery prototypes here described are evaluated in terms of electrochemical performances, cell balance, efficiency and cycling life. Finally, the applicability of these suitable energy storage systems is evaluated in the light of their most promising characteristics, thus outlining a conceivable scenario of new generation, sustainable lithium-ion batteries.

A Lithium‐Ion Battery using a 3 D‐Array Nanostructured Graphene–Sulfur Cathode and a Silicon Oxide‐Based Anode

“…Electrochemicalperformance of the 3DG-S composite in al ithium cell with DOL/DME (1:1 w/w), 1mol kg À1 LiTFSI, and 1mol kg À1 LiNO 3 electrolyte. [3] In this work we assembled the lithium-ion sulfur cell by using only as light excesso ft he anode capacity (N/P ratio 1.07), ast ypically performed in lithi-um-ion batteries to achieve high practical capacity and relevant stability.W es hould, however,m ention that ad ifferent N/ Pr atio, carefully tuned up, may actually vary the lithium-ion sulfur cell voltage and its delivered capacity.T herefore, ad ecrease in the N/P ratio can theoretically increase the practical capacity of the cell;h owever, this condition generally leads to ar elevant decrease in cell stability owing to al eak in the lithium-ionsreservoir by the effect of possible side reactions occurring at the lithiated anode duringf ull-cell cycling. b) Rate capability test in al ithium half-cell in termso fc ycling behaviora tr ates of C/10, C/8, C/5, C/3, C/2, and 1C(specific capacity on the left y axis and Coulombice fficiency on the right y axis;see FigureS3f or the related voltageprofiles).G alvanostatic cycling testsi nalithium half-cell prolonged to 100 cycles at rateso fC /3, C/2, and 1Cin termso fc )voltage profilesa nd d) cycling behavior (specific capacity on the left y axis and Coulombic efficiencyo nt he right y axis).…”

“…a) Cyclicvoltammetry profiles within the 1.8-2.8 Vrange with ascan rate of 0.1 mV s À1 (see Figure S2 reportingt he results of the EIS tests performedd uring the voltammetry test). [3] The innovative Li y SiO x -C/3DG-S cell, assembled in the charged state as ar esult of the electrode configuration, oper- Figure 4. Sulfurl oading between 1.4 and 2.2 mg cm À2 .Cycling tests performedwithin the 1.8-2.8 Vv oltage rangef or the 1Crate and the 1.9-2.8 Vrange for all other C-rates.…”

“…[15][16][17] Ethers,g lymes, [18] and poly(ethylene oxide) [19] are very promising solvents fora chieving high-performance lithium-sulfur cells, whereas lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) and lithium trifluoromethansulfonate (LiCF 3 SO 3 )s how the bestc haracteristicsa se lectrolyte salts in terms of fast Li-ion transporta nd high conductivity. [3] Therefore, lithium-ion configuration may improvet he cell cycle lifea nd the performance by avoiding lithium den-An efficient lithium-ion battery was assembled by using an enhanced sulfur-based cathode andasilicon oxide-based anode and proposeda sa ni nnovative energy-storage system.T he sulfur-carbon composite, which exploits graphene carbon with a3 Da rray (3DG-S),w as synthesized by ar eduction step through am icrowave-assisted solvothermalt echnique and was fully characterized in terms of structure andm orphology, thereby revealings uitable features for lithium-cell application. Indeed, the use of lithium metal at the negative side may lead to safetyi ssues associated with possible lithium dendrite growth, short circuit, and thermalr unaway.…”

“…Indeed, the use of lithium metal at the negative side may lead to safetyi ssues associated with possible lithium dendrite growth, short circuit, and thermalr unaway. [3] Accordingly,t he safety and stabilityo ft he sulfur cell may be increased by replacing the lithium-metal anode by graphite, [21,22] amorphous carbons, [23] or lithium-alloyingm aterials. Electrochemical tests of the 3DG-S electrode in al ithium halfcell indicated ac apacity ranging from 1200 to 1000 mAh g À1 at currents of C/10 and 1C,r espectively.R emarkably,t he Li-alloyed anode, namely,L i y SiO x -C prepared by the sol-gel methoda nd lithiated by surfacet reatment, showeds uitable performance in al ithium half-cell by using an electrolyte designed for lithium-sulfur batteries.…”

Gas Evolution and Capacity Fading in LiFexMn1-xPO4/Graphite Cells Studied by Neutron Imaging and Neutron Induced Prompt Gamma Activation Analysis

“…Those stationary storage systems range from small (e. g. home storage for photovoltaic plants) to large scale applications (grid stabilization). [4][5][6] Especially in cases of high capital expenditures, consumers and operators expect a long battery lifetime in terms of capacity and charge and discharge characteristics.Applications like home energy storage require high operational safety standards. These requirements are met by the cathode active material LiFePO 4 (LFP), which has first been described in 1997.…”