Quasi-solid-state lithium-tellurium batteries based on flexible gel polymer electrolytes

Yue Zhang; Wei Lu; Dan Manaig; Donald J Freschi; Yulong Liu; Haiming Xie; Jian Liu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.081

Quasi-solid-state lithium-tellurium batteries based on flexible gel polymer electrolytes

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jan:605:547-555. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.081. Epub 2021 Jul 21.

Authors

Yue Zhang¹, Wei Lu², Dan Manaig³, Donald J Freschi⁴, Yulong Liu⁵, Haiming Xie⁶, Jian Liu⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada.
² Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, 130024 Changchun, Jilin, China; Key Laboratory of Functional Materials Physics and Chemistry Ministry of Education, Jilin Normal University, Changchun 130103, China; College of Information Technology, Jilin Normal University, Siping 136000, China.
³ School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada; Fenix Advanced Materials, 2950 Highway Drive, Trail, BC V1R 2T3, Canada.
⁴ Fenix Advanced Materials, 2950 Highway Drive, Trail, BC V1R 2T3, Canada.
⁵ Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, 130024 Changchun, Jilin, China.
⁶ Northeast Normal University, 5268 Renmin Street, 130024 Changchun, Jilin, China. Electronic address: xiehm136@nenu.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science, University of British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Kelowna, BC V1V 1V7, Canada. Electronic address: jian.liu@ubc.ca.

PMID: 34340039
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.07.081

Abstract

A quasi-solid-state Li-Te battery is developed by using a flexible gel polymer electrolyte (GPE), porous carbon/tellurium cathode, and lithium metal anode. The ionic conductivity of GPE is controllable and reaches up to 8.0 × 10^-4 S cm^-1 at 25 °C. The good interfacial contact with Li metal ensures excellent cycling stability in Li/GPE/Li symmetric cells. Moreover, it is found that, compared to S and Se counterparts, the Li-Te battery exhibits good rate capability due to the high electrical conductivity of Te and excellent interfacial stability among GPE, Li, and Te. This work provides several facile strategies to develop safe and high-performance solid-state Li-Te batteries.

Keywords: Gel polymer electrolyte; Lithium-tellurium batteries; Quasi-solid-state batteries; Tellurium/microporous carbon.

MeSH terms

Electric Power Supplies
Ions
Lithium*
Polymers
Tellurium*

Substances

Ions
Polymers
Lithium
Tellurium