美国麻省理工学院Sadoway, Donald R.团队开发了抗树枝状短路、可快速充电的铝–硫化电池。相关研究成果于2022年8月24日发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然》。
尽管装有金属负极的电池因其较高的能量密度和使其更易于回收的较低复杂性而具有吸引力，但树枝晶造成的电池短路威胁已阻碍了该技术的发展。
该文中，研究人员开发了使用由NaCl-KCl-AlCl3组成熔盐电解质的一种双向、快速充电铝硫电池，这些氯铝酸盐熔体含有高浓度的AlCl3，含有链状AlNc3n+1-物种，例如Al2Cl7-、Al3Cl10-和Al4Cl13-，其与Al–Cl–Al键合赋予容易的Al3+去溶剂化动力学，导致高法拉第交换电流，从而形成电池高速充电的基础。这种化学与其他铝电池的不同之处在于，它选择了正的元素硫族电极，而不是各种低容量的化合物配方，以及选择熔盐电解质，而不是诱发高极化的室温离子液体。
研究表明，铝和硫族元素之间的多步转化途径能够在高达200℃的温度下快速充电，电池在非常高的充电速率下经受数百次循环，而不会形成铝枝晶。重要的是，铝硫电池的电池级成本预计不到当前锂离子电池技术的六分之一，这对可扩展性很重要。这种化学物质由地球上丰富的元素组成，这些元素可以在略高于水沸点的适度高温下使用，具有低成本、可充电、耐火、可回收电池的所有必要条件。
附：英文原文
Title: Fast-charging aluminium–chalcogen batteries resistant to dendritic shorting
Author: Pang, Quanquan, Meng, Jiashen, Gupta, Saransh, Hong, Xufeng, Kwok, Chun Yuen, Zhao, Ji, Jin, Yingxia, Xu, Like, Karahan, Ozlem, Wang, Ziqi, Toll, Spencer, Mai, Liqiang, Nazar, Linda F., Balasubramanian, Mahalingam, Narayanan, Badri, Sadoway, Donald R.
Issue&Volume: 2022-08-24
Abstract: Although batteries fitted with a metal negative electrode are attractive for their higher energy density and lower complexity, the latter making them more easily recyclable, the threat of cell shorting by dendrites has stalled deployment of the technology1,2. Here we disclose a bidirectional, rapidly charging aluminium–chalcogen battery operating with a molten-salt electrolyte composed of NaCl–KCl–AlCl3. Formulated with high levels of AlCl3, these chloroaluminate melts contain catenated AlnCl3n+1– species, for example, Al2Cl7–, Al3Cl10– and Al4Cl13–, which with their Al–Cl–Al linkages confer facile Al3+ desolvation kinetics resulting in high faradaic exchange currents, to form the foundation for high-rate charging of the battery. This chemistry is distinguished from other aluminium batteries in the choice of a positive elemental-chalcogen electrode as opposed to various low-capacity compound formulations3,4,5,6, and in the choice of a molten-salt electrolyte as opposed to room-temperature ionic liquids that induce high polarization7,8,9,10,11,12. We show that the multi-step conversion pathway between aluminium and chalcogen allows rapid charging at up to 200C, and the battery endures hundreds of cycles at very high charging rates without aluminium dendrite formation. Importantly for scalability, the cell-level cost of the aluminium–sulfur battery is projected to be less than one-sixth that of current lithium-ion technologies. Composed of earth-abundant elements that can be ethically sourced and operated at moderately elevated temperatures just above the boiling point of water, this chemistry has all the requisites of a low-cost, rechargeable, fire-resistant, recyclable battery.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04983-9
Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04983-9