Nanotube film enabling ten times higher energy lithium metal batteries

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Thin nanotube films effectively stop dendrites that grow naturally from unprotected lithium metal anodes in batteries. Over time, these tentacle-like dendrites can pierce the battery’s electrolyte core and reach the cathode, causing the battery to fail. That problem has mostly stopped the use of lithium metal in commercial applications.

Lithium metal charges much faster and holds about 10 times more energy by volume than the lithium-ion electrodes commonly used today.

The tangled-nanotube film effectively quenched dendrites over 580 charge/discharge cycles of a test battery with a sulfurized-carbon cathode the lab developed in previous experiments. The researchers reported the full lithium metal cells retained 99.8 percent of their coulombic efficiency, the measure of how well electrons move within an electrochemical system.

Abstract – Suppressing Li Metal Dendrites Through a Solid Li‐Ion Backup Layer

Advanced Materials – Suppressing Li Metal Dendrites Through a Solid Li‐Ion Backup Layer

The growing demand for sustainable and off‐grid energy storage is reviving the attempts to use Li metal as the anode in the next generation of batteries. However, the use of Li anodes is hampered due to the growth of Li dendrites upon charging and discharging, which compromises the life and safety of the battery. Here, it is shown that lithiated multiwall carbon nanotubes (Li‐MWCNTs) act as a controlled Li diffusion interface that suppresses the growth of Li dendrites by regulating the Li+ ion flux during charge/discharge cycling at current densities between 2 and 4 mA cm−2. A full Li‐S cell is fabricated to showcase the versatility of the protected Li anode with the Li‐MWCNT interface, where the full cells could support pulse discharges at high currents and over 450 cycles at different rates with coulombic efficiencies close to 99.9%. This work indicates that carbon materials in lithiated forms can be an effective and simple approach to the stabilization of Li metal anodes.

24 thoughts on “Nanotube film enabling ten times higher energy lithium metal batteries”

  1. Google and some person in Facebook told me that lithium-metal batteries aren’t rechargeable.
    But in the article it says they went through “580 charge/discharge cycles”.
    So, were Google and that one person in FB just wrong or is this battery also new in that way?

  2. Vuukle blocks all links. Try providing a google search query or posting links with spaces etc to bypass it.

  3. The cost of nano carbon will continue to fall and will eventually result is a cost point that these anodes will be produced cheaply. Carbon nano carbon tubes will be used in flywheels and construction of spinning space station wheels and even a proposed space elevator and many other areas. There are too many uses and the company that patents a cheap process will be fabulously wealthy. Whether that battery is as efficient as claimed is another matter.

  6. A battery with 10 times the energy density of what is possible today at a comparable price will change the world big time. I read about using carbon nanotubes to encase a flywheel thereby allowing spin speed up to 750,000 rmp. Using these flywheels as a energy storage device would give us the same outcome as a super battery. With a storage capacity capable of 1200 miles on a car.

  8. Does this help the lithium-air battery that was mentioned on NBF within the last few months?
    Lithium-air has the highest theoretically possible energy density for any battery technology.

  9. The cost is typically proportionate to grade. The low cost ones are the ones where you have short lengths, mixed chirality (meaning mixed electronic properties), defects, maybe even mixed number of walls. Maybe such cheap ones will do for the batteries, maybe not. My guess is they need higher quality, which is more expensive.

    Btw, to post the link, you’ll need to replace some of the dots etc with spaces: example com /path/to/resource htm. Otherwise Vuukle strips the link.

  11. My Tesla 3 that is coming to me Monday will be a gift to my son after my death before this tech comes to fruition.Which might be good, by then the car might need new batteries.

  12. I think the Tesla strategy applies. In this case, start with a super-expensive electric car with a 1000-mile range. Gradually aim cheaper and higher volume.

  13. Google and some person in Facebook told me that lithium-metal batteries aren’t rechargeable.
    But in the article it says they went through “580 charge/discharge cycles”.
    So, were Google and that one person in FB just wrong or is this battery also new in that way?

  15. Does this help the lithium-air battery that was mentioned on NBF within the last few months?
    Lithium-air has the highest theoretically possible energy density for any battery technology.

  17. The cost is typically proportionate to grade. The low cost ones are the ones where you have short lengths, mixed chirality (meaning mixed electronic properties), defects, maybe even mixed number of walls. Maybe such cheap ones will do for the batteries, maybe not. My guess is they need higher quality, which is more expensive.

    Btw, to post the link, you’ll need to replace some of the dots etc with spaces: example com /path/to/resource htm. Otherwise Vuukle strips the link.

  18. The cost of nano carbon will continue to fall and will eventually result is a cost point that these anodes will be produced cheaply. Carbon nano carbon tubes will be used in flywheels and construction of spinning space station wheels and even a proposed space elevator and many other areas. There are too many uses and the company that patents a cheap process will be fabulously wealthy. Whether that battery is as efficient as claimed is another matter.

  22. My Tesla 3 that is coming to me Monday will be a gift to my son after my death before this tech comes to fruition.Which might be good, by then the car might need new batteries.

  23. A battery with 10 times the energy density of what is possible today at a comparable price will change the world big time. I read about using carbon nanotubes to encase a flywheel thereby allowing spin speed up to 750,000 rmp. Using these flywheels as a energy storage device would give us the same outcome as a super battery. With a storage capacity capable of 1200 miles on a car.

  24. I think the Tesla strategy applies. In this case, start with a super-expensive electric car with a 1000-mile range. Gradually aim cheaper and higher volume.

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