Bifunctional role of carbon nanofibrils within Li powder composite anode: More Li nucleation but less Li isolation

•Carbon nanotube (CNT) is used as an additive for Li metal powder (LMP) anode.•CNT provides 3D electronic network and additional nucleation sites within LMP anode.•CNT-LMP anode shows lower overpotential and higher Li utilization.•Thus, CNT-LMP anode shows superior performance in Li/Cu, Li/Li, and L...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electrochimica acta 2022-10, Vol.430, p.141093, Article 141093
Main Authors: Dzakpasu, Cyril Bubu, Jin, Dahee, Kang, Dongyoon, Kim, Nayeon, Jo, Taejin, Lee, Hongkyung, Ryou, Sun-Yul, Lee, Yong Min
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon nanotubes
Dead Li
Li metal battery
Li metal powder
Nucleation
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Summary:•Carbon nanotube (CNT) is used as an additive for Li metal powder (LMP) anode.•CNT provides 3D electronic network and additional nucleation sites within LMP anode.•CNT-LMP anode shows lower overpotential and higher Li utilization.•Thus, CNT-LMP anode shows superior performance in Li/Cu, Li/Li, and Li/NMC622 cells. Enlarging the surface area in the Li metal electrode is practically attractive for increasing long-term cycle life. In this regard, Li metal powders (LMPs) have a larger surface area, which is very beneficial for controlling dendrites and fast charging compared to planar Li metal foil. However, there is the need to increase nucleation sites in LMP electrodes for faster charging and suppress unavoidable dead Li formation caused by an electrical disconnection between individual LMPs and current collector for their commercial application. Herein, we present a 40 μm-thick, carbon nanotube-embedded LMP (CNT-LMP) electrode. The CNTs improve the LMP inter-particle contact and the contact with the Cu current collector and provide additional Li nucleation sites. As a result, the Li/Li symmetric cell with the CNT-LMP electrode exhibited a stable cycling and a longer cycle life (over 1000 h) than the bare LMP electrode (680 h). Furthermore, a full cell of LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2/CNT-LMP could achieve a longer and more stable cycle performance of up to 600 cycles under practical current conditions (0.5 C/2 C, Charge/Discharge). In comparison, the bare cell without CNT decayed suddenly after 300 cycles. [Display omitted]
ISSN:0013-4686
1873-3859
DOI:10.1016/j.electacta.2022.141093