Powder brushed onto electrodes brings high-capacity batteries closer

Good news! Better batteries are only a matter of time!

"... As the battery is cycled, dendrites begin to form on the anode and can cause the battery to short-circuit, fail or catch fire. We've seen many interesting potential solutions to this dendrite problem, and Rice University scientists have been responsible for more than few, with nanotube films, adhesive tapes and laser treatments just some of the recent examples. ...
a novel brushing treatment. The technique begins with the brushing of the anode to create a textured surface, and then brushing a powder made of phosphorus and sulfur into it. This causes the powder to react with the lithium metal anode to form a fine, protective film that alters its surface energy. ..."

"... constructed test batteries and determined the treated anodes retained ultralow polarization — another damaging characteristic for lithium-ion batteries — for more than 4,000 hours, about eight times longer than bare lithium anodes. ..."

From the abstract:

"Battery designs are swiftly changing from metal-ion to rechargeable metal batteries. Theoretically, metals can deliver maximum anode capacity and enable cells with improved energy density. In practice, these advantages are only possible if the parasitic surface reactions associated with metal anodes are controlled. These undesirable surface reactions are responsible for many troublesome issues, like dendrite formation and accelerated consumption of active materials, which leads to anodes with low cycle life or even battery runaway. Here, a facile and solvent-free brushing method is reported to convert powders into films atop Li and Na metal foils. Benefiting from the reactivity of Li metal with these powder films, surface energy can be effectively tuned, thereby preventing parasitic reaction. In-operando study of P2S5-modified Li anodes in liquid electrolyte cells reveals a smoother electrode contour and more uniform metal electrodeposition and dissolution behavior. The P2S5-modified Li anodes sustain ultralow polarization in symmetric cell for >4000 h, ≈8× longer than bare Li anodes. The capacity retention is ≈70% higher when P2S5-modified Li anodes are paired with a practical LiFePO4 cathode (≈3.2 mAh cm−2) after 340 cycles. Brush coating opens a promising avenue to fabricate large-scale artificial solid-electrolyte-interphase directly on metals without the need for organic solvent."

Powder brushed onto electrodes brings high-capacity batteries closer

Brushing thin films onto electrodes preserves batteries Rice technique shows creating films on lithium anodes gives them longer life

Brushed Metals for Rechargeable Metal Batteries (no public access)