Engineering topics

Yi, Haocong

Publications and source records attributed to Yi, Haocong.

3 records

DOE OSTI2024

Stabilizing LiCoO 2 at 4.6 V by regulating anti-oxidative solvents

For LiCoO 2 (LCO) operating at high voltages (>4.5 V vs. Li/Li + ), the intensive side reactions between LCO and traditional ethylene carbonate (EC)-based electrolytes with LiPF 6 salts can produce plenty of corrosive species (such as HF and HPO 2 F 2 ), causing severe surface degradation. Herein, anti-oxidative fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and difluoroethylene carbonate (DFEC) were selected as co-solvents to reduce the generation of corrosive species. Besides, PF 6 − anions enrich the Helmholtz plane of the LCO/electrolyte interface and promote the formation of a robust cathode/electrolyte interphase (CEI) featuring LiF/Li x PO y F z /Li 3 PO 4 inorganics and P-containing organics under the synergy of fluorinated solvents, which significantly inhibits the catalysis of highly oxidative Co 4+ /O n− (0 < n < 2). Benefiting from the reduced corrosive species and reinforced CEI, the layered structure of the LCO surface is well preserved during long-term cycling, with a highly reversible O3/H1-3 phase transition. Consequently, a LCO||graphite pouch cell exhibits a remarkable capacity retention of 85.7% after 500 cycles in 3.0–4.55 V. Furthermore, this work provides a new insight into developing advanced functional electrolytes for high-voltage lithium-ion batteries.

Co/O loss↗

DOE OSTI2024

Densification of Cathode/Electrolyte Interphase to Enhance Reversibility of LiCoO 2 at 4.65 V

For LiCoO 2 (LCO) operated beyond 4.55 V (vs Li/Li + ), it usually suffers from severe surface degradation. Constructing a robust cathode/electrolyte interphase (CEI) is effective to alleviate the above issues, however, the correlated mechanisms still remain vague. Herein, a progressively reinforced CEI is realized via constructing Zr-O deposits (ZrO 2 and Li 2 ZrO 3 ) on LCO surface (i.e., Z-LCO). Upon cycle, these Zr-O deposits can promote the decomposition of LiPF6, and progressively convert to the highly dispersed Zr-O-F species. In particular, the chemical reaction between LiF and Zr-O-F species further leads to the densification of CEI, which greatly reinforces its toughness and conductivity. Further, combining the robust CEI and thin surface rock-salt layer of Z-LCO, several benefits are achieved, including stabilizing the surface lattice oxygen, facilitating the interface Li + transport kinetics, and enhancing the reversibility of O3/H1-3 phase transition, etc. As a result, the Z-LCO||Li cells exhibit a high capacity retention of 84.2% after 1000 cycles in 3–4.65 V, 80.9% after 1500 cycles in 3–4.6 V, and a high rate capacity of 160 mAh g -1 at 16 C (1 C = 200 mA g -1 ). This work provides a new insight for developing advanced LCO cathodes.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Defect-free-induced Na + disordering in electrode materials

For reaching high-performance of electrode materials, it is generally believed that understanding the structure evolution and heterogeneous alignment effect is the key. Presently, a very simple and universally applicable self-healing method is investigated to prepare defect-free Prussian blue analogs (PBAs) that reach their theoretical capacity as cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). For direct imaging of the local structure and the dynamic process at the atomic scale, we deliver a fast ion-conductive nickel-based PBA that enables rapid Na + extraction/insertion within 3 minutes and a capacity retention of nearly 100% over 4000 cycles. This guest-ion disordered and quasi-zero-strain nonequilibrium solid–solution reaction mechanism provides an effective guarantee for realizing long-cycle life and high-rate capability electrode materials that operate via reversible two-phase transition reaction. Unconventional materials and mechanisms that enable reversible insertion/extraction of ions in low-cost metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) within minutes have implications for fast-charging devices, grid-scale energy storage applications, material discovery, and tailored modification.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗