Self-Healable Lithium-Ion Batteries: A Review

Abstract

The inner constituents of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are easy to deform during charging and discharging processes, and the accumulation of these deformations would result in physical fractures, poor safety performances, and short lifespan of LIBs. Recent studies indicate that the introduction of self-healing (SH) materials into electrodes or electrolytes can bring about great enhancements in their mechanical strength, thus optimizing the cycle stability of the batteries. Due to the self-healing property of these special functional materials, the fractures/cracks generated during repeated cycles could be spontaneously cured. This review systematically summarizes the mechanisms of self-healing strategies and introduces the applications of SH materials in LIBs, especially from the aspects of electrodes and electrolytes. Finally, the challenges and the opportunities of the future research as well as the potential of applications are presented to promote the research of this field.

Carbon-Enhanced Hydrated Salt Phase Change Materials for Thermal Management Applications

“…For example, at low temperatures, lithium ion batteries (LIBs) often suffer from reduced capacity and a sharply declined lifetime due to decreased Li + diffusion within both the electrodes and electrolyte [105,106]. At high temperatures, LIBs also show a drop in capacity, increased internal resistance, degradation of the electrodes and electrolyte, and even safety risks such as thermal runaway (TR), which triggers a chain reaction that can result in catching fire or an explosion [107,108]. By undergoing reversible melting and solidification, hydrated salts can absorb excessive heat in a timely manner and release the latent heat when the temperature of the electronic device drops below the freezing point of the PCM, thus offering a facile method for the passive thermal management of electronic devices [10,29].…”

Bio‐Inspired Electrodes with Rational Spatiotemporal Management for Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…[132] The primary challenge associated with Si anodes is the structural degradation and instability of the SEI owing to the substantial volume change (≈300%) during lithiation (Figure 2B). [52,53,56] This can lead to electrode delamination from the current collector. [133] Consequently, side reactions with the electrolyte occur, causing severe structural pulverization and rapid capacity fading of the electrode.…”

“…[148,210] Self-healing mechanisms includes autonomous and nonautonomous, and thus their behaviors enable to be classified into the physical, chemical, and physical-chemical synthetic approaches. [53,131] Therein, self-healing materials applied in LIBs presently have primarily used chemical approaches to achieve self-healing capability. The chemical approaches are either reversible chemical bonds or supramolecular interactions.…”

“…[51] For instance, silicon (Si) anode severe volume expansion of up to 300% in the lithiation state leads to solid electrolyte interface (SEI) rupture, which decreases the electrochemical performance of LIB during cycling processes, and its lifetime become shortened. [52][53][54][55][56] Fortunately, self-healing strategies provide new avenues to resolve the above issues via repairing the impaired parts to improve the electrochemical performance. [57][58][59] On the other hand, bio-inspired porous structure onto ultrathick electrode achieves high areal capacity and excellent rate capability.…”

Co-operation of hydrogen bonds and dynamic covalent bonds enables an energy-dissipative crosslinked binder for silicon-based anodes

“…33,34 Noteworthily, the dynamic covalent bonds can not only provide a robust cross-linked network but also endow binders with self-healing properties, which contributes to the stable electrode structure. 35,36 It is widely known that introducing dynamic boronic esters is an efficient way to form self-healing polymers due to the reversible exchange of B–O bonds. A previous study has confirmed that the reversible exchange of B–O bonds can be encouraged by the extra hydroxyl group in the pyrogallol structure, in which the extra hydroxyl group functions as a proximal base.…”