Hexagonal Boron Nitride‐Based Electrolyte Composite for Li‐Ion Battery Operation from Room Temperature to 150 °C

Batteries for high temperature applications capable of withstanding over 60 °C are still dominated by primary cells. Conventional rechargeable energy storage technologies which have exceptional performance at ambient temperatures employ volatile electrolytes and soft separators, resulting in catastrophic failure under heat. A composite electrolyte/separator is reported that holds the key to extend the capability of Li‐ion batteries to high temperatures. A stoichiometric mixture of hexagonal boron nitride, piperidinium‐based ionic liquid, and a lithium salt is formulated, with ionic conductivity reaching 3 mS cm^?1, electrochemical stability up to 5 V and extended thermal stability. The composite is used in combination with conventional electrodes and demonstrates to be stable for over 600 cycles at 120 °C, with a total capacity fade of less than 3%. The ease of formulation along with superior thermal and electrochemical stability of this system extends the use of Li‐ion chemistries to applications beyond consumer electronics and electric vehicles.     

Aqueous Electrochemical Energy Storage with a Mediator‐Ion Solid Electrolyte

This study presents a battery concept with a “mediator‐ion” solid electrolyte for the development of next‐generation electrochemical energy storage technologies. The active anode and cathode materials in a single cell can be in the solid, liquid, or gaseous form, which are separated by a sodium‐ion solid‐electrolyte separator. The uniqueness of this mediator‐ion strategy is that the redox reactions at the anode and the cathode are sustained by a shuttling of a mediator sodium ion between the anolyte and the catholyte through the solid‐state electrolyte. Use of the solid‐electrolyte separator circumvents the chemical‐crossover problem between the anode and the cathode, overcomes the dendrite‐problem when employing metal‐anodes, and offers the possibility of using different liquid electrolytes at the anode and the cathode in a single cell. The battery concept is demonstrated with two low‐cost metal anodes (zinc and iron), two liquid cathodes (bromine and potassium ferricyanide), and one gaseous cathode (air/O₂) with a sodium‐ion solid electrolyte. This novel battery strategy with a mediator‐ion solid electrolyte is applicable to a wide range of electrochemical energy storage systems with a variety of cathodes, anodes, and mediator‐ion solid electrolytes.     

Nonuniform Ionic and Electronic Transport of Ceramic and Polymer/Ceramic Hybrid Electrolyte by Nanometer‐Scale Operando Imaging for Solid‐State Battery

Replacing the liquid electrolyte in lithium batteries with solid‐state ion conductor is promising for next‐generation energy storage that is safe and has high energy density. Here, nanometer‐resolution ionic and electronic transport imaging of Li₃PS₄ (LPS), a solid‐state electrolyte (SSE), is reported. This nm resolution is achieved by using a logarithm‐scale current amplifier that enhances the current sensitivity to the fA range. Large fluctuations of ion current—one to two orders of magnitude on the LPS and on the LPS region of a polymer/LPS bulk hybrid SSE—that must be mitigated to eliminate Li dendrite formation and growth, are found. This ion current fluctuation is understood in terms of highly anisotropic transport kinetic barriers along the different crystalline axes due to different grain orientations in the polycrystalline and glass ceramic materials. The results on the bulk hybrid SSE show a sharp transition of ionic and electronic transport at the LPS/polymer boundary and decreases in average ionic current with decreasing polyimine particle size and with extensive cycling. The results elucidate the mechanism of polyimine extension into interparticles to prevent Li dendrite growth. This work opens up novel characterization of charge transport, which relates to Li plating and stripping for solid‐state‐batteries.     

Heteroatom Doping: An Effective Way to Boost Sodium Ion Storage

In response to the change of energy landscape, sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) are becoming one of the most promising power sources for the post‐lithium‐ion battery (LIB) era due to the cheap and abundant nature of sodium, and similar electrochemical properties to LIBs. The electrochemical performance of electrode materials for SIBs is closely bound up with their crystal structures and intrinsic electronic/ionic states. Apart from nanoscale design and conductive composite strategies, heteroatom doping is another effective way to enhance the intrinsic transfer characteristics of sodium ions and electrons in crystal structures to accelerate reaction kinetics and thereby achieve high performance. In this review, the recent advancements in heteroatom doping for sodium ion storage of electrode materials are reviewed. Specifically, different doping strategies including nonmetal element doping (e.g., nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorous, boron, fluorine), metal element doping (magnesium, titanium, iron, aluminum, nickel, copper, etc.), and dual/triple doping (such as N–S, N–P, N–S–P) are reviewed and summarized in detail. Furthermore, various doping methods are introduced and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. The doping effect on crystal structure and intrinsic electronic/ionic state are illustrated and the relationship with capacity and energy/power density is interrogated. Finally, future development trends in doping strategies for advanced SIBs electrodes are analyzed.     

Codoped Holey Graphene Aerogel by Selective Etching for High‐Performance Sodium‐Ion Storage

The pursuit of more efficient carbon‐based anodes for sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) prepared from facile and economical methods is a very important endeavor. Based on the crystallinity difference within carbon materials, herein, a low‐temperature selective burning method is developed for preparing oxygen and nitrogen codoped holey graphene aerogel as additive‐free anode for SIBs. By selective burning of a mixture of graphene and low‐crystallinity carbon at 450 °C in air, an elastic porous graphene monolith with abundant holes on graphene sheets and optimized crystallinity is obtained. These structural characteristics lead to an additive‐free electrode with fast charge (ions and electrons) transfer and more abundant Na⁺ storage active sites. Moreover, the heteroatom oxygen/nitrogen doping favors large interlayer distance for rapid Na⁺ insertion/extraction and provides more active sites for high capacitive contribution. The optimized sample exhibits superior sodium‐ion storage capability, i.e., high specific capacity (446 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 A g^?1), ultrahigh rate capability (189 mAh g^?1 at 10 A g^?1), and long cycle life (81.0% capacity retention after 2000 cycles at 5 A g^?1). This facile and economic strategy might be extended to fabricating other superior carbon‐based energy storage materials.     

Quantification of Pseudocapacitive Contribution in Nanocage‐Shaped Silicon–Carbon Composite Anode

Pseudocapacitive materials have been highlighted as promising electrode materials to overcome slow diffusion‐limited redox mechanism in active materials, which impedes fast charging/discharging in energy storage devices. However, previously reported pseudocapacitive properties have been rarely used in lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) and evaluation methods have been limited to those focused on thin‐film‐type electrodes. Hence, a nanocage‐shaped silicon–carbon composite anode is proposed with excellent pseudocapacitive qualities for LIB applications. This composite anode exhibits a superior rate capability compared to other Si‐based anodes, including commercial silicon nanoparticles, because of the higher pseudocapacitive contribution coming from ultrathin Si layer. Furthermore, unprecedent 3D pore design in cage shape, which prevents the particle scale expansion even after full lithiation demonstrates the high cycling stability. This concept can potentially be used to realize high‐power and high‐energy LIB anode materials.     

Aqueous Solution‐Processable Small Molecular Metal‐Chelate Complex Electrolyte for Flexible All‐Solid State Energy Storage Devices

A small molecular metal‐chelate complex, tris(8‐hydroxyquinoline‐5‐sulfonic acid) aluminum (AlQSA₃), that has three sulfonic acid groups per molecule leading to an excellent solubility in water is reported as a liquid‐free perfect solid‐state electrolyte for flexible film‐type all‐solid‐state energy storage devices. The AlQSA₃ material is synthesized by one‐step reaction of aluminum triisopropoxide and 8‐hydroxyquinoline‐5‐sulfonic acid. The aqueous solutions of AlQSA₃ are applied to fabricate flexible film‐type all‐solid state electric double layer capacitors with indium‐tin oxide thin film electrodes. The ion conductivity of the AlQSA₃ film reaches 0.116 mS cm^?1, while a pronounced hysteresis are obtained in the cyclic voltammetry measurement. The AlQSA₃ film capacitors exhibit an output voltage of 1.5 V at 20 μA cm^?2, which is considerably stable by the repeated operation. In particular, the peak output voltage is well kept even after 180° bending for 500 times in the case of the flexible AlQSA₃ film capacitors.     

Advanced Organic Electrode Materials for Rechargeable Sodium‐Ion Batteries

Benefiting from the high abundance and low cost of sodium resource, rechargeable sodium‐ion batteries (SIBs) are regarded as promising candidates for large‐scale electrochemical energy storage and conversion. Due to the heavier mass and larger radius of Na⁺ than that of Li⁺, SIBs with inorganic electrode materials are currently plagued with low capacity and insufficient cycling life. In comparison, organic electrode materials display the advantages of structure designability, high capacity and low limitation of cationic radius. However, organic electrode materials also encounter issues such as high‐solubility in electrolyte and low conductivity. Here, recently reported organic electrode materials, which mainly include the reactions based on either carbon‐oxygen double bond or carbon‐nitrogen double bond, and doping reactions, are systematically reviewed. Furthermore, the design strategies of organic electrodes are comprehensively summarized. The working voltage is regulated through controlling the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energies. The theoretical capacity can be enhanced by increasing the active groups. The dissolution is inhibited with elevating the intermolecular forces with proper molecular weight. The conductivity can be improved with extending conjugated structures. Future research into organic electrodes should focus on the development of full SIBs with aqueous/aprotic electrolytes and long cycling stability.     

Fabrication of Hierarchical Potassium Titanium Phosphate Spheroids: A Host Material for Sodium‐Ion and Potassium‐Ion Storage

Identifying suitable electrode materials for sodium‐ion and potassium‐ion storage holds the key to the development of earth‐abundant energy‐storage technologies. This study reports an anode material based on self‐assembled hierarchical spheroid‐like KTi₂(PO₄)₃@C nanocomposites synthesized via an electrospray method. Such an architecture synergistically combines the advantages of the conductive carbon network and allows sufficient space for the infiltration of the electrolyte from the porous structure, leading to an impressive electrochemical performance, as reflected by the high reversible capacity (283.7 mA h g^?1 for Na‐ion batteries; 292.7 mA h g^?1 for K‐ion batteries) and superior rate capability (136.1 mA h g^?1 at 10 A g^?1 for Na‐ion batteries; 133.1 mA h g^?1 at 1 A g^?1 for K‐ion batteries) of the resulting material. Moreover, the different ion diffusion behaviors in the two systems are revealed to account for the difference in rate performance. These findings suggest that KTi₂(PO₄)₃@C is a promising candidate as an anode material for sodium‐ion and potassium‐ion batteries. In particular, the present synthetic approach could be extended to other functional electrode materials for energy‐storage materials.     

High Performance,Flexible, Solid‐State Supercapacitors Based on a Renewable and Biodegradable Mesoporous Cellulose Membrane

A flexible, transparent, and renewable mesoporous cellulose membrane (mCel‐membrane) featuring uniform mesopores of ≈24.7 nm and high porosity of 71.78% is prepared via a facile and scalable solution‐phase inversion process. KOH‐saturated mCel‐membrane as a polymer electrolyte demonstrates a high electrolyte retention of 451.2 wt%, a high ionic conductivity of 0.325 S cm^?1, and excellent mechanical flexibility and robustness. A solid‐state electric double layer capacitor (EDLC) using activated carbon as electrodes, the KOH‐saturated mCel‐membrane as a polymer electrolyte exhibits a high capacitance of 110 F g^?1 at 1.0 A g^?1, and long cycling life of 10 000 cycles with 84.7% capacitance retention. Moreover, a highly integrated planar‐type micro‐supercapacitor (MSC) can be facilely fabricated by directly depositing the electrode materials on the mCel‐membrane‐based polymer electrolyte without using complicated devices. The resulting MSC exhibits a high areal capacitance of 153.34 mF cm^?2 and volumetric capacitance of 191.66 F cm^?3 at 10 mV s^?1, representing one of the highest values among all carbon‐based MSC devices. These findings suggest that the developed renewable, flexible, mesoporous cellulose membrane holds great promise in the practical applications of flexible, solid‐state, portable energy storage devices that are not limited to supercapacitors.     

A Flexible Dual‐Ion Battery Based on PVDF‐HFP‐Modified Gel Polymer Electrolyte with Excellent Cycling Performance and Superior Rate Capability

Dual‐ion batteries (DIBs) have attracted increasing attention owing to their merits of high working voltage, low cost, and especially environmental friendliness. However, the cycling stability of most DIBs is still unsatisfying due to the decomposition of conventional liquid carbonate electrolytes under high working voltages. Exploration of gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs) with good electrochemical stability at high voltage is a possible strategy to optimize their cycling stability. A high‐performance flexible DIB based on a poly(vinylidene fluoride‐hexafluoro propylene) GPE codoped with poly(ethylene oxide) and graphene oxide via weak bond interactions is herein reported for the first time. The prepared polymer electrolyte shows a 3D porous network with significantly improved ionic conductivity up to 2.1 × 10^?3 S cm^?1, which is favorable for fast ionic transportation of both cations and anions. As a result, this DIB exhibits excellent cycling stability with a capacity retention of 92% after 2000 cycles at a high current rate of 5C (1C is corresponding to 100 mA g^?1), which is among the best performances of DIBs. Moreover, good flexibility and thermal stability (up to 90 °C) are also achieved for this battery, indicating its potential applications for high‐performance flexible energy storage devices.     

How electrolyte shielding influences the electrical potential in transmembrane ion channels.

The electrical potential due to fixed charge distributions is strongly altered in the vicinity of a membrane and notably dependent on aqueous electrolyte concentration. We present an efficient way to solve the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation applicable to general cylindrically symmetric dielectric geometries. It generalizes Gouy-Chapman theory to systems containing transmembrane channels. The method is applied to three channel systems: gramicidin, gap junction, and porin. We find that for a long, narrow channel such as gramicidin concentration variation has little influence on the electrical image barrier to ion permeation. However, electrolyte shielding reduces the image induced contribution to the energy required for multiple occupancy. In addition, the presence of electrolyte significantly affects the voltage profile due to an applied potential, substantially compressing the electric field to the immediate vicinity of the pore itself. In the large diameter channels, where bulk electrolyte may be assumed to enter the pore, the electrolyte greatly reduces the image barrier to ion permeation. At physiological ionic strengths this barrier is negligible and the channel may be readily multiply occupied. At all ionic strengths considered (l greater than 0.005 M) the image barrier saturates rapidly and is essentially constant more than one channel radius from the entrance to the pore. At lower ionic strengths (l less than 0.016 M) there are noticeable (greater than 20 mV) energy penalties associated with multiple occupancy.     

High‐Performance Aqueous Rechargeable Li‐Ni Battery Based on Ni(OH)2/NiOOH Redox Couple with High Voltage

New energy storage and conversion systems require large‐scale, cost‐effective, good safety, high reliability, and high energy density. This study demonstrates a low‐cost and safe aqueous rechargeable lithium‐nickel (Li‐Ni) battery with solid state Ni(OH)₂/NiOOH redox couple as cathode and hybrid electrolytes separated by a Li‐ion‐conductive solid electrolyte layer. The proposed aqueous rechargeable Li‐Ni battery exhibits an approximately open‐circuit potential of 3.5 V, outperforming the theoretic stable window of water 1.23 V, and its energy density can be 912.6 W h kg^‐1, which is much higher than that of state‐of‐the‐art lithium ion batteries. The use of a solid‐state redox couple as cathode with a metallic lithium anode provides another postlithium chemistry for practical energy storage and conversion.     

Anatase TiO2 Confined in Carbon Nanopores for High‐Energy Li‐Ion Hybrid Supercapacitors Operating at High Rates and Subzero Temperatures

Li‐ion hybrid supercapacitors (Li‐HSCs) hold great promise in future electrical energy storage due to their relatively high power and energy density. However, a major challenge lies in the slow kinetics of Li‐ion intercalation/extraction within metal‐oxide electrodes. Here, it is shown that ultrafast charge storage is realized by confining anatase TiO₂ nanoparticles in carbon nanopores to enable a high‐rate anode for Li‐HSCs. The porous carbon with interconnected pore walls and open channels not only works as a conductive host to protect TiO₂ from structural degradation but also provides fast pathways for ion/electron transport. As a result, the assembled cells exhibit remarkable rate capabilities with a specific capacity of ≈140 mAh g^?1 at a slow charge and ≈60 mAh g^?1 at a 3.5 s fast charge. While the charge/discharge process can be completed as fast as that of state‐of‐the‐art electrical double‐layer capacitors (EDLCs), the produced nanocomposites show three to seven times higher volumetric capacitance than activated carbons used in commercial EDLCs with acetonitrile‐based electrolytes. Equally important for some applications in cold climates or the space, the Li‐HSCs can operate at subzero temperatures as low as ?40 °C, which is likely only limited by thermal properties of the acetonitrile (melting point of ?45 °C).     

SiO2 Hollow Nanosphere‐Based Composite Solid Electrolyte for Lithium Metal Batteries to Suppress Lithium Dendrite Growth and Enhance Cycle Life

The low Coulombic efficiency and serious security issues of lithium (Li) metal anode caused by uncontrollable Li dendrite growth have permanently prevented its practical application. A novel SiO₂ hollow nanosphere‐based composite solid electrolyte (SiSE) for Li metal batteries is reported. This hierarchical electrolyte is fabricated via in situ polymerizing the tripropylene gycol diacrylate (TPGDA) monomer in the presence of liquid electrolyte, which is absorbed in a SiO₂ hollow nanosphere layer. The polymerized TPGDA framework keeps the prepared SiSE in a quasi‐solid state without safety risks caused by electrolyte leakage, meanwhile the SiO₂ layer not only acts as a mechanics‐strong separator but also provides the SiSE with high room‐temperature ionic conductivity (1.74 × 10^?3 S cm^?1) due to the high pore volume (1.49 cm³ g^?1) and large liquid electrolyte uptake of SiO₂ hollow nanospheres. When the SiSE is in situ fabricated on the cathode and applied to LiFePO₄/SiSE/Li batteries, the obtained cells show a significant improvement in cycling stability, mainly attributed to the stable electrode/electrolyte interface and remarkable suppression for Li dendrite growth by the SiSE. This work can extend the application of hollow nanooxide and enable a safe, efficient operation of Li anode in next generation energy storage systems.     

Graphitic Carbon Nanocage as a Stable and High Power Anode for Potassium‐Ion Batteries

As an emerging electrochemical energy storage device, potassium‐ion batteries (PIBs) have drawn growing interest due to the resource‐abundance and low cost of potassium. Graphite‐based materials, as the most common anodes for commercial Li‐ion batteries, have a very low capacity when used an anode for Na‐ion batteries, but they show reasonable capacities as anodes for PIBs. The practical application of graphitic materials in PIBs suffers from poor cyclability, however, due to the large interlayer expansion/shrinkage caused by the intercalation/deintercalation of potassium ions. Here, a highly graphitic carbon nanocage (CNC) is reported as a PIBs anode, which exhibits excellent cyclability and superior depotassiation capacity of 175 mAh g^?1 at 35 C. The potassium storage mechanism in CNC is revealed by cyclic voltammetry as due to redox reactions (intercalation/deintercalation) and double‐layer capacitance (surface adsorption/desorption). The present results give new insights into structural design for graphitic anode materials in PIBs and understanding the double‐layer capacitance effect in alkali metal ion batteries.     

Highly Tough,Li‐Metal Compatible Organic–Inorganic Double‐Network Solvate Ionogel

Ionogels are considered promising electrolytes for safe lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) because of their low flammability, good thermal stability, and wide electrochemical stability window. Conventional ionic liquid‐based ionogels, however, face two main challenges; poor mechanical property and low Li‐ion transfer number. In this work, a novel solvate ionogel electrolyte (SIGE) based on an organic–inorganic double network (DN) is designed and fabricated through nonhydrolytic sol–gel reaction and in situ polymerization processes. The unprecedented SIGE possesses high toughness (bearing the deformation under the pressure of 80 MPa without damage), high Li‐ion transfer number of 0.43, and excellent Li‐metal compatibility. As expected, the LiFePO₄/Li cell using the newly developed SIGE delivers a high capacity retention of 95.2% over 500 cycles, and the average Coulombic efficiency is as high as 99.8%. Moreover, the Ni‐rich LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ (NCM811)/Li cell based on the modified SIGE achieves a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.4%, which outperforms previous solid/quasi‐solid‐state NCM811‐based LIBs. Interestingly, the SIGE‐based pouch cells are workable under extreme conditions (e.g., severely deforming or clipping into segments). In terms of those unusual features, the as‐obtained SIGE holds great promise for next‐generation flexible and safe energy‐storage devices.     

K‐Ion Storage Enhancement in Sb2O3/Reduced Graphene Oxide Using Ether‐Based Electrolyte

In this work, an ether‐based electrolyte is adopted instead of conventional ester‐based electrolyte for an Sb₂O₃‐based anode and its enhancement mechanism is unveiled for K‐ion storage. The anode is fabricated by anchoring Sb₂O₃ onto reduced graphene oxide (Sb₂O₃‐RGO) and it exhibits better electrochemical performance using an ether‐based electrolyte than that using a conventional ester‐based electrolyte. By optimizing the concentration of the electrolyte, the Sb₂O₃‐RGO composite delivers a reversible specific capacity of 309 mAh g^?1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g^?1. A high specific capacity of 201 mAh g^?1 still remains after 3300 cycles (111 days) at 500 mA g^?1 with almost no decay, exhibiting a longer cycle life compared with other metallic oxides. In order to further reveal the intrinsic mechanism, the energy changes for K atom migrating from surface into the sublayer of Sb₂O₃ are explored by density functional theory calculations. According to the result, the battery using the ether‐based electrolyte exhibits a lower energy change and migration barrier than those using other electrolytes for K‐ion, which is helpful to improve the K‐ion storage performance. It is believed that the work can provide deep understanding and new insight to enhance electrochemical performance using ether‐based electrolytes for KIBs.     

A Hybrid Electrolytes Design for Capacity‐Equivalent Dual‐Graphite Battery with Superior Long‐Term Cycle Life

Based on cation/anion graphite intercalation chemistry (GIC) processes, dual‐graphite batteries promise to be an energy storage device of high safety and low cost. However, few single electrolyte systems can simultaneously meet the requirements of both high oxidative stability during high voltage anion‐GIC on cathode and high reversibility upon cation‐GIC on anode. Thus, in order to rigidly remedy the irreversible capacity loss, excessive electrode materials need to be fabricated within full cell, resulting in an imbalance toward capacity‐dependent mass loading proportion between both electrodes. This work introduces a hybrid (dual‐organic) electrolytes design strategy into this promising technology. Segregated by a Nafion‐based separator, an ionic liquid electrolyte within the cathodic side can endure high operation potentials, while high Li‐GIC reversibility can be achieved in a superconcentrated ether‐based electrolyte on the anode side. On a mechanistic level, various cation‐GIC processes conducted in different electrolyte systems are clearly revealed and are summarized based on systematical characterizations. More importantly, after synergistically tuning the advantage and drawback of each electrolyte in this hybrid system, the dual‐graphite full cell assembled with capacity‐equivalent graphite‐based electrodes (1:1 mass loading) demonstrates superior long‐term cycling stability with ultrahigh capacity retention for over 3000 cycles.     

A Novel Aluminum‐Ion Battery: Al/AlCl3‐[EMIm]Cl/Ni3S2@Graphene

Due to an ever‐increasing demand for electronic devices, rechargeable batteries are attractive for energy storage systems. A novel rechargeable aluminum‐ion battery based on Al³⁺ intercalation and deintercalation is fabricated with Ni₃S₂/graphene microflakes composite as cathode material and high‐purity Al foil as anode. This kind of aluminum‐ion battery comprises of an electrolyte containing AlCl₃ in an ionic liquid of 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride ([EMIm]Cl). Galvanostatic charge/discharge measurements have been performed in a voltage range of 0.1–2.0 V versus Al/AlCl₄ ^?. An initial discharge specific capacity of 350 mA h g^?1 at a current density of 100 mA g^?1 is achieved, and the discharge capacity remains over 60 mA h g^?1 and coulombic efficiency of 99% after 100 cycles. Typically, for the current density at 200 mA g^?1, the initial charge and discharge capacities are 300 and 235 mA h g^?1, respectively. More importantly, it should be emphasized that the battery has a high discharge voltage plateau (≈1.0 V vs Al/AlCl₄ ^?). These meaningful results represent a significant step forward in the development of aluminum‐ion batteries.