Recently, Professor Yong Zhao's research group has made new progress in the field of solid-state electrolytic interface (SEI) of lithium-ion batteries. The related achievements are entitled "A lattice matched interface between in situ/artificial SEIs Inhibiting SEI Decomposition for Enhanced Lithium Storage", and the full text of this paper was published in Journal of materials Chemistry A (J. Material. Chem. A 2020, DOI: 10.1039/d0ta00448k, IF=10.733).            

The research on anode materials for high energy density lithium ion batteries (LIBs) mainly focuses on the development of Li metal anodes, Si based anodes and some conversion anodes (such as MoS2, Fe3O4, etc.). However, these anode materials face the key challenge of poor cycle stability in practical application, which is mainly caused by in-situ SEI mechanical damage and chemical degradation between electrolyte components and active electrode materials. Therefore, it is very important to construct a stable SEI to inhibit the degradation of electrolyte and achieve long cycle stability of high capacity LIBs.

Figure: schematic diagram of the lattice matching interface between LiAlO2 and in-situ SEI components to enhance the cyclic stability of the electrode.

In this work, Yong Zhao’s team inserted artificial LiAlO2 layer between the in-situ SEI and the electrode, and formed a lattice matching interface with the in-situ SEI components to build a stable SEI and improve the cycle stability of the battery. The results show that the lattice matching interface can effectively inhibit the mechanical and chemical degradation of in-situ SEI during cycling, thus maintaining the stability of the interface between the electrode and the electrolyte. The research work provides theoretical basis and technical means for designing excellent artificial SEI and effectively improving the cycling stability of anode materials in lithium-ion battery, sodium ion battery, lithium metal battery and sodium metal battery.            

Dr. Xiaosheng Song, the Key Laboratory of Special Functional Materials, is the co- first author of the paper, and Dr. Yong Zhao is the co-corresponding author of the paper. This work is supported by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the science and Technology Department of Henan Province, and the Education Department of Henan Province and Henan University.

Paper links: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2020/ta/d0ta00448k