The nano-architecture of novel materials enables the development of new generation high-energy batteries beyond lithium-ion chemistry. Credit: Provided by the Sydney University of Technology.
New types of cathodes, suitable for advanced energy storage, can be developed using lithium ion batteries further.
The rapid development of renewable energy resources has unleashed enormous demands on high-energy-efficient, cost-effective, large-scale stationary energy storage systems.
Lithium ion (LIB) batteries have many advantages, but much more abundant metal elements are available, such as sodium, potassium, zinc, and aluminum.
These elements have a similar chemistry to lithium and have been extensively investigated recently, including sodium ion batteries (SIB), potassium ion batteries (PIB), zinc ion batteries (ZIB), and ion batteries aluminum (AIB). Despite the promising aspects related to redox potential and energy density, the development of these LIB-beyond has been hampered by the lack of suitable electrode materials.
New research led by Professor Guoxiu Wang of the Sydney University of Technology, and published in Nature’s Communications, describes a strategy using 2D interface deformation engineering graphene nanomaterial to produce a new type of cathode. Deformation engineering is the process of adjusting the properties of a material by altering its mechanical or structural attributes.
“Batteries beyond lithium ion are promising candidates for large-scale, low-cost, high-density energy storage applications. However, the main challenge lies in developing suitable electrode materials, “said Professor Wang, director of the UTS Center for Clean Energy Technology.
“This research demonstrates a new type of zero deformation cathode for reversible ion intercalation beyond Li + (Na +, K +, Zn2 +, Al3 +) through interface deformation engineering of a graphene heterostructure 2D multilayer VOPO4.
When applied as cathodes in K + ion batteries, do we achieve a high specific capacity of 160 mA h g-1 and a high energy density of ~ 570 W h kg? 1, featuring the best reported performance to date. In addition, the prepared multilayer 2D heterostructure can also be extended as high performance Na +, Zn2 + and Al3 + ion battery cathodes.
The researchers say this work heralds a promising strategy for using 2D material deformation engineering for advanced energy storage applications.
“The deformation engineering strategy could be extended to many other nanomaterials for the rational design of electrode materials towards high-energy storage applications beyond lithium-ion chemistry,” said Professor Wang.
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Reference: “Two-dimensional multilayer heterostructure deformation engineering for rechargeable batteries beyond lithium” by Pan Xiong, Fan Zhang, Xiuyun Zhang, Shijian Wang, Hao Liu, Bing Sun, Jinqiang Zhang, Yi Sun, Renzhi Ma, Yoshio Bando, Cuifeng Zhou, Zongwen Liu, Takayoshi Sasaki, and Guoxiu Wang, July 3, 2020, Nature’s Communications.
DOI: 10.1038 / s41467-020-17014-w
The research was a collaboration with Professor Takayoshi Sasaki of the National Institute of Materials Science, Japan.
