Highly aligned lithiophilic electrospun nanofiber membrane for the multiscale suppression of Li dendrite growth
Jianan Wang,
Qianyue Ma,
Shiyi Sun,
Kai Yang,
Qiong Cai,
Emilia Olsson,
Xin Chen,
Ze Wang,
Amr M. Abdelkader,
Yinshi Li,
Wei Yan,
Shujiang Ding,
Kai Xi
Affiliations
Jianan Wang
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China; Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, Surrey, England, UK
Qianyue Ma
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Shiyi Sun
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Kai Yang
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, Surrey, England, UK
Qiong Cai
Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, Surrey, England, UK
Emilia Olsson
Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography, Science Park 106, 1098 XG, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Institute of Physics and Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Amsterdam, Postbus 94485, 1090 GL, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Xin Chen
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Ze Wang
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Amr M. Abdelkader
Faculty of Science and Technology, Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus, Fern Barrow, Poole, England, BH12 5BB, UK
Yinshi Li
Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710049, China
Wei Yan
Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Recycling and Resource Recovery, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China; Corresponding authors.
Shujiang Ding
Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University Engineering Research Center of Energy Storage Materials and Chemistry of Shaanxi Province, State Key Laboratory for Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China; Corresponding authors.
Kai Xi
Department of Applied Chemistry, School of Chemistry, University Engineering Research Center of Energy Storage Materials and Chemistry of Shaanxi Province, State Key Laboratory for Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China; Corresponding authors.
Using inorganic fibrous membranes as protective layers has yielded success in suppressing dendrite growth. However, conventional fibrous membranes usually have large voids and low affinity for Li, promoting inhomogeneous charge distribution and allowing some dendrites to grow. Herein, we introduce a highly aligned TiO2/SiO2 (A-TS) electrospun nanofiber membrane as a protective layer for the Li metal anode. The A-TS membrane is fabricated by a custom-made electrospinning system with an automatic fiber alignment collector that allows control of the fibers’ orientation. At the scale of the individual fibers, their high binding energies with Li can attract more “dead” Li by reacting with the SiO2 component of the composite, avoiding uncontrollable deposition on the metal anode. At the membrane scale, these highly ordered structures achieve homogeneous contact and charge distribution on the Li metal surface, leaving no vulnerable areas to nucleate dendrite formation. Additionally, the excellent mechanical and thermal stability properties of the A-TS membrane prevent any potential puncturing by dendrites or thermal runaway in a battery. Hence, an A-TS@Li anode exhibits stable cycling performance when used in both Li–S and Li–NCM811 batteries, highlighting significant reference values for the future design and development of high-energy-density metal-based battery systems.
