According to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese researchers have developed a new type of lithium metal battery, using 3D printing technology to significantly improve the battery’s lifespan and energy density.
Lithium metal batteries are expected to be the next-generation high-energy batteries, due to the battery’s potential high energy density. However, bottlenecks, such as lithium dendrite growth and low Coulombic efficiency – resulting in poor cyclability and low energy density – have limited the battery’s applications.
The researchers from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have used 3D printing technology to make titanium carbide-based scaffolds for lithium metal to deposit as the cathode, which achieves an outstanding areal capacity of 30 milliampere hour per square centimeter, and a cycle lifespan of over 4,800 hours without producing lithium dendrite.
The 3D printed anode was made using porous lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) lattices with mass loading reaching 171 mg per square centimeter – effectively improving the electrochemical performance of the battery.
This technical route offers a viable strategy for developing batteries with long lifespans and high energy density, according to the study, which was published in the Energy Storage Materials journal.
