Abstract Low cost, highly efficient and safe devices for energy storage have long been desired in our society. Among these devices, electrochemical batteries with alkali metal anodes have attracted worldwide attention. However, the practical application of such systems is limited by dendrite formation and low cycling efficiency of alkali metals. Here we report a class of liquid anodes fabricated by dissolving sodium metal into a mixed solution of biphenyl and ethers. Such liquid anodes are highly safe and have a low redox potential of 0.09 V versus sodium, exhibiting a high conductivity of 1.2 × 10 −2 S cm −1 . When coupled with polysulfides dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide as the cathode, a battery is demonstrated to sustain over 3,500 cycles without measureable capacity loss at room temperature. This work provides a base for exploring a family of liquid anodes for rechargeable batteries that potentially meet the requirements for grid-scale electrical energy storage.
Aggressive chemistry involving Li metal anode (LMA) and high-voltage LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 (NCM811) cathode is deemed as a pragmatic approach to pursue the desperate 400 Wh kg-1. Yet, their implementation is plagued by low Coulombic efficiency and inferior cycling stability. Herein, we propose an optimally fluorinated linear carboxylic ester (ethyl 3,3,3-trifluoropropanoate, FEP) paired with weakly solvating fluoroethylene carbonate and dissociated lithium salts (LiBF4 and LiDFOB) to prepare a weakly solvating and dissociated electrolyte. An anion-enrichment interface prompts more anions' decomposition in the inner Helmholtz plane and higher reduction potential of anions. Consequently, the anion-derived interface chemistry contributes to the compact and columnar-structure Li deposits with a high CE of 98.7% and stable cycling of 4.6 V NCM811 and LiCoO2 cathode. Accordingly, industrial anode-free pouch cells under harsh testing conditions deliver a high energy of 442.5 Wh kg-1 with 80% capacity retention after 100 cycles.
An integrated preparation of safety‐reinforced poly(propylene carbonate)‐based all‐solid polymer electrolyte is shown to be applicable to ambient‐temperature solid polymer lithium batteries. In contrast to pristine poly(ethylene oxide) solid polymer electrolyte, this solid polymer electrolyte exhibits higher ionic conductivity, wider electrochemical window, better mechanical strength, and superior rate performance at 20 °C. Moreover, lithium iron phosphate/lithium cell using such solid polymer electrolyte can charge and discharge even at 120 °C. It is also noted that the solid‐state soft‐package lithium cells assembled with this solid polymer electrolyte can still power a red light‐emitting diode lamp without suffering from internal short‐circuit failures even after cutting off one part of the battery. Considering the aspects mentioned above, the solid polymer electrolyte is eligible for practical lithium battery applications with improved reliability and safety. Just as important, a new perspective that the degree of amorphous state of polymer is also as critical as its low glass transition temperature for the exploration of room temperature solid polymer electrolyte is illustrated. In all, this study opens up a kind of new avenue that could be a milestone to the development of high‐voltage and ambient‐temperature all‐solid‐state polymer electrolytes.
Abstract Sulfide all‐solid‐state batteries (ASSBs) have been widely acknowledged as next‐generation energy‐storage devices due to their improved safety performance and potentially high energy density. Among the various fabrication methods of sulfide ASSBs, solvent‐free dry‐film processes have unique advantages including reduced costs, suppressed film delamination, thick electrodes, and high compatibility with sulfide solid electrolytes (SEs). However, the currently dominating binder for dry‐film process polytetrafluoroethylene suffers from poor voltage stability and low viscosity, which leads to low Coulombic efficiency and poor cycling stability of sulfide ASSBs. Herein, a specially‐designed treatment is developed to obtain a new type of dry binder, styrene‐butadiene rubber (SBR), exploiting paraxylene and a NaCl substrate to dissolve and re‐precipitate SBR for controlling its stacking state, micro‐structure/morphology, density, and dispersion performance. The SE membrane prepared using this processed SBR exhibits ultra‐high ionic conductivity (2.34 mS cm ‐1 ), contributing to excellent cycle stability of the corresponding sulfide ASSB (>84% capacity retention after 600 cycles at 0.3C).
Simulating seismic waves with uniform grid in heterogeneous high-velocity contrast media requires small-grid spacing determined by the global minimal velocity, which leads to huge number of grid points and small time step. To reduce the computational cost, discontinuous grids that use a finer grid at the shallow low-velocity region and a coarser grid at high-velocity regions are needed. In this paper, we present a discontinuous grid implementation for the collocated-grid finite-difference (FD) methods to increase the efficiency of seismic wave modelling. The grid spacing ratio n could be an arbitrary integer n ≥ 2. To downsample the wavefield from the finer grid to the coarser grid, our implementation can simply take the values on the finer grid without employing a downsampling filter for grid spacing ratio n = 2 to achieve stable results for long-time simulation. For grid spacing ratio n ≥ 3, the Gaussian filter should be used as the downsampling filter to get a stable simulation. To interpolate the wavefield from the coarse grid to the finer grid, the trilinear interpolation is used. Combining the efficiency of discontinuous grid with the flexibility of collocated-grid FD method on curvilinear grids, our method can simulate large-scale high-frequency strong ground motion of real earthquake with consideration of surface topography.
Sodium‐ion batteries are promising for grid‐scale storage applications due to the natural abundance and low cost of sodium. However, few electrodes that can meet the requirements for practical applications are available today due to the limited routes to exploring new materials. Here, a new strategy is proposed through partially/fully substituting the redox couple of existing negative electrodes in their reduced forms to design the corresponding new positive electrode materials. The power of this strategy is demonstrated through the successful design of new tunnel‐type positive electrode materials of Na 0.61 [Mn 0.61‐ x Fe x Ti 0.39 ]O 2 , composed of non‐toxic and abundant elements: Na, Mn, Fe, Ti. In particular, the designed air‐stable Na 0.61 [Mn 0.27 Fe 0.34 Ti 0.39 ]O 2 shows a usable capacity of ≈90 mAh g −1 , registering the highest value among the tunnel‐type oxides, and a high storage voltage of 3.56 V, corresponding to the Fe 3+ /Fe 4+ redox couple realized for the first time in non‐layered oxides, which was confirmed by X‐ray absorption spectroscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy. This new strategy would open an exciting route to explore electrode materials for rechargeable batteries.
Abstract. Vehicle exhaust, as a major source of air pollutants in urban areas, contains a complex mixture of organic vapours including long-chain alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons. The atmospheric oxidation of vehicle emissions is a highly complex system as inorganic gases (e.g. NOx and SO2) from other urban sources coexist and therefore remains poorly understood. In this work, the photooxidation of n-dodecane, 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, and their mixture is studied in the presence of NOx and SO2 to mimic the atmospheric oxidation of urban vehicle emissions (including diesel and gasoline vehicles), and the formation of ozone and secondary aerosols is investigated. It is found that ozone formation is enhanced by higher OH concentration and higher temperature, but is influenced little by SO2 concentration. However, SO2 can largely enhance the particle formation in both number and mass concentrations, likely due to the promoted new particle formation and acid-catalysed heterogeneous reactions from the formation of sulfuric acid. In addition, organo-sulfates and organo-nitrates are detected in the formed particles, and the presence of SO2 can promote the formation of organo-sulfates. These results provide a scientific basis for systematically evaluating the effects of SO2, OH concentration, and temperature on the oxidation of mixed organic gases in the atmosphere that produce ozone and secondary particles.
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