All-3D-printed lithium metal batteries with high energy density

• A study group led by Prof. Wu Zhongshuai from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has actually created all-3D-printed Li metal batteries (LMBs) with robust cycle stability and ultrahigh areal energy density.

The LMBs take a porous as well as conductive Ti3C2Tx MXene skeleton for a dendrite-free and also stable Li metal anode and also multi-dimensionally conductive LiFePO4 (LFP) lattice as the ultra-thick cathode.

This research was published in Energy Storage Materials on Oct. 19.

LMBs are considered as a class of high-energy-density systems beyond current cutting edge lithium-ion batteries. Nevertheless, the unmanageable dendrite growth and huge volume change of Li metal anodes have actually elevated poor cycle life issues.

In this research, the scientists reported an all-3D-printing technique for building ultrahigh-performance LMBs. The LMBs were consisted of a dendrite-free Li metal anode with porous MXene lattices to manage regional existing circulation, which co-opted the lithium nucleation, as well as a 3D conductive porous LFP framework cathode to attain quick ion/electron transfer channels.

As a result of the wealth of Li nucleation websites and large pore volume in the MXene lattices, the 3D printed MXene scaffolds prevented the limitless volume modification and dendritic formation of Li anodes.

Moreover, by combining ultra-thick LFP cathodes lattices with high-efficiency electron and also ion networks, the all-3D printed LFP|| MXene@Li LMBs provided unmatched areal capacity (25.3 mAh/cm2) as well as energy density (81.6 mWh/cm2) under an ultrahigh mass loading of 171 mg/cm2, exceeding all reported 3D printed batteries up until now.