"Sulfur Template Method" for Li-ion Batteries -Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment
In response to the increasing demand, researchers have been working on the performance improvement of secondary batteries. They found that nanotechnology can make batteries "lighter" and "faster", but due to the lower density of nanomaterials, "smaller" has become a problem for researchers in the field of energy storage.(Lithium - Ion Battery Equipment)
Recently, Professor Yang Quanhong from the School of Chemical Engineering of Tianjin University and his research team proposed a "sulfur template method". They finally completed the "tailor-made" of graphene encapsulation of active particles through the design of anode materials for high volume energy density lithium-ion batteries. Make it possible to make lithium-ion batteries "smaller".
In the study of the properties of materials, researchers have found that although lithium-ion batteries already have a high energy density, non-carbon materials such as tin and silicon are expected to replace current commercial graphite and greatly improve the mass energy density of lithium-ion batteries. However, the volume expansion problem of these two materials limits their application and development.
Therefore, the researchers solved this problem by using carbon cage structures constructed from improved carbon nanomaterials. Based on graphene interfacial assembly, they invented a sulfur-templated technique for precisely tailored dense porous carbon cages.
In the process of constructing dense graphene networks using capillary evaporation techniques, the researchers introduced sulfur as a flowable volume template to complete the customization of graphene-carbon coats for non-carbon active particles. In the experiment, by modulating the amount of sulfur template used, they could precisely control the three-dimensional graphene-carbon cage structure to achieve a "fit" coating of the non-carbon active particles, so as to effectively buffer the huge non-carbon active particles caused by lithium intercalation. The volume expansion makes it exhibit excellent volume performance as a negative electrode for lithium ion batteries.
Through this research, Professor Yang Quanhong's research team successfully solved the bottleneck problem of high density and porosity of carbon materials, and obtained high-density porous carbon materials.
It is worth pointing out that this “tailor-made” design idea of carbon cage structure based on graphene assembly can be extended to a generalized construction strategy for next-generation high-energy lithium-ion batteries and electrode materials such as lithium-sulfur batteries and lithium-air batteries. The energy storage battery is expected to achieve "small volume" and "high capacity", which greatly meets the needs of users' portability.