Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new lithium metal battery that can be charged and discharged at least 6,000 times — more than any other pouch battery cell — and can be recharged in a matter of minutes. Contact online >>
Researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed a new lithium metal battery that can be charged and discharged at least 6,000 times — more than any other pouch battery cell — and can be recharged in a matter of minutes.
The research not only describes a new way to make solid state batteries with a lithium metal anode but also offers new understanding into the materials used for these potentially revolutionary batteries.
"Lithium metal anode batteries are considered the holy grail of batteries because they have ten times the capacity of commercial graphite anodes and could drastically increase the driving distance of electric vehicles," said Xin Li, Associate Professor of Materials Science at SEAS and senior author of the paper. "Our research is an important step toward more practical solid state batteries for industrial and commercial applications."
One of the biggest challenges in the design of these batteries is the formation of dendrites on the surface of the anode. These structures grow like roots into the electrolyte and pierce the barrier separating the anode and cathode, causing the battery to short or even catch fire.
These dendrites form when lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode during charging, attaching to the surface of the anode in a process called plating. Plating on the anode creates an uneven, non-homogeneous surface, like plaque on teeth, and allows dendrites to take root. When discharged, that plaque-like coating needs to be stripped from the anode and when plating is uneven, the stripping process can be slow and result in potholes that induce even more uneven plating in the next charge.
In 2021, Li and his team offered one way to deal with dendrites by designing a multilayer battery that sandwiched different materials of varying stabilities between the anode and cathode. This multilayer, multi-material design prevented the penetration of lithium dendrites not by stopping them altogether, but rather by controlling and containing them.
In this new research, Li and his team stop dendrites from forming by using micron-sized silicon particles in the anode to constrict the lithiation reaction and facilitate homogeneous plating of a thick layer of lithium metal.
In this design, when lithium ions move from the cathode to the anode during charging, the lithiation reaction is constricted at the shallow surface and the ions attach to the surface of the silicon particle but don''t penetrate further. This is markedly different from the chemistry of liquid lithium ion batteries in which the lithium ions penetrate through deep lithiation reaction and ultimately destroy silicon particles in the anode.
But, in a solid state battery, the ions on the surface of the silicon are constricted and undergo the dynamic process of lithiation to form lithium metal plating around the core of silicon.
These coated particles create a homogenous surface across which the current density is evenly distributed, preventing the growth of dendrites. And, because plating and stripping can happen quickly on an even surface, the battery can recharge in only about 10 minutes.
The researchers built a postage stamp-sized pouch cell version of the battery, which is 10 to 20 times larger than the coin cell made in most university labs. The battery retained 80% of its capacity after 6,000 cycles, outperforming other pouch cell batteries on the market today.The technology has been licensed through Harvard Office of Technology Development to Adden Energy, a Harvard spinoff company cofounded by Li and three Harvard alumni. The company has scaled up the technology to build a smart phone-sized pouch cell battery.
Li and his team also characterized the properties that allow silicon to constrict the diffusion of lithium to facilitate the dynamic process favoring homogeneous plating of thick lithium. They then defined a unique property descriptor to describe such a process and computed it for all known inorganic materials. In doing so, the team revealed dozens of other materials that could potentially yield similar performance.
"Previous research had found that other materials, including silver, could serve as good materials at the anode for solid state batteries," said Li. "Our research explains one possible underlying mechanism of the process and provides a pathway to identify new materials for battery design."
The research is co-authored by Luhan Ye, Yang Lu, Yichao Wang, and Jianyuan Li. It was supported by the Department of Energy Vehicle Technology Office, the Harvard Climate Change Solutions Fund, and Harvard Data Science Initiative Fund.
As demand for lithium-ion batteries to power cars, laptops, and cell phones has soared in recent years, the world has engaged in a fevered rush to find the raw materials needed to make the batteries. An increasing demand for lithium — along with its chemical partners, cobalt and nickel — could be difficult to meet.
Enter the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), six of its national laboratories, and eight university partners, including Virginia Tech. The DOE has awarded this group, known as the Low-cost Earth-abundant Na-ion Storage (LENS) consortium, $50 million over the next five years to look for alternatives.
The LENS consortium aims to develop high-energy, long-lasting sodium-ion batteries using safe, abundant, and inexpensive materials. This initiative addresses a critical need to reduce U.S. dependence on the limited and strategically important elements used in lithium-ion batteries, paving the way for a more sustainable future in electric-vehicle technology.
Feng Lin, professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech, will bring to the effort his expertise in finding the best combination of materials, chemistry, and manufacturing to make batteries more environmentally friendly and affordable.
"Our world is on the verge of a profound shift in how we power our everyday lives," Lin said. "With the combined expertise of the LENS consortium, we now have a unique opportunity to pioneer new battery technologies for electric vehicles and to train a new generation of scientists and engineers who will contribute to our domestic battery innovation and manufacturing."
The effort comes at a time when reducing U.S. dependence on critical elements in lithium-ion batteries is vital for the future of electric-vehicle battery technology.
Paul Kearns, director of Argonne National Laboratory, the lead agency, said the LENS consortium would "push sodium-ion battery technology forward and contribute to a clean-energy future for everyone. Our scientific expertise and dynamic collaborations in this important field will strengthen U.S. competitiveness."
At present, lithium-ion batteries dominate the global energy storage market, especially for vehicles. They power devices ranging from smartphones to electric vehicles and can store energy from renewable sources like solar and wind. However, producing more and more lithium-ion batteries to power our cars and devices is becoming difficult.
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