Recently, cooperating with Professor Xiongwen Lou from Nanyang Technological University, Professor Yongxin Tao from Institute of New Energy Material and Technology, College of Materials Science and Engineering first applied self-assembled monolayers’ (SAMs) surfaces technology to regulate and control electrolyte’s redox state, achieving the precise control of high energy lithium-metal battery’s electrolyte decomposition. Claiming the Zhejiang University of Technology as its first completion unit, the article entitled Self-assembled monolayers direct a LiF-rich interphase toward long-life lithium metal batteries got published online on Science.
In the study, the researchers have designed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with high-density and long-range–ordered polar carboxyl groups linked to an aluminum oxide–coated separator to provide strong dipole moments, thus offering excess electrons to accelerate the degradation dynamics of carbon-fluorine bond cleavage in Li bisimide. Hence, an SEI with enriched lithium fluoride (LiF) nanocrystals is generated, facilitating rapid Li+ transfer and suppressing dendritic Li growth. In particular, the SAMs endow the full cells with substantially enhanced cyclability under high cathode loading, limited Li excess, and lean electrolyte conditions. Besides, since the molecular structure height of SAMs is adjustable and highly applicable in commercial batteries’ membrane system, this technology can be extended to other electrode systems, thus manufacturing a variety of energy storage devices with more superb performance.
For the past few years, Professor Tao’s team has developed distinct research features and technological superiority in the field of foundation and industrialization of advanced secondary battery materials. Actually, the team has published more than 100 articles on a series of renowned periodicals, like Science, Nat. Energy, Nat. Commun., Adv. Mater., Adv. Energy Mater., Adv. Funct. Mater., Nano Lett., ACS Nano., and has more than 100 patents authorized. In addition, Professor Tao’s team has conducted industry-university-research cooperation with numerous enterprises concerning lithium -ion batteries, realizing the industrialization production of lithium-ion batteries of various specifications.
