Nip the Sodium Dendrites in the Bud on Planar Doped Graphene in Liquid/Gel Electrolytes

Abstract

Sodium (Na) metal is the most promising alternative anode to metallic lithium for high‐energy batteries due to the low cost and high abundance of Na resources, but it suffers from severe dendritic/mossy growth at high current densities. Understanding Na nucleation/growth mechanism in different electrolyte systems is the key to tackling this issue but is complicated by the structural complexities of existing substrates for Na plating/stripping. Herein, well‐defined planar doped graphene substrates are synthesized as model plating platforms to unravel a binding energy dominant Na nucleation‐growth mode. The dopants (e.g., boron) in doped graphene and the regions close to the dopants possess high binding energies with Na atoms, providing abundant preferential nucleation sites and contributing to uniform Na plating/stripping. Accordingly, the boron‐doped graphene regulated Na anode exhibits long‐term stability at high current densities in both liquid and polymer electrolytes. The results enhance the understanding of Na nucleation/growth for stabilizing Na metal batteries.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 17, 2019
Source ID
10.1002/adfm.201807974

Entities

People

  • Chuanlong Wang
  • Edward Matios
  • Huan Wang
  • Jianmin Luo
  • Kesong Yang
  • Paul Hyunggyu Joo
  • Weiyang Li
  • Xiaofei Hu
  • Xuan Lu

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund
  • Dartmouth College
  • University of California, San Diego

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene