Creep-type all-solid-state cathode achieving long life

Xiaolin Xiong; Ting Lin; Chunxi Tian; Guoliang Jiang; Rong Xu; Hong Li; Liquan Chen; Liumin Suo

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-48174-8

Creep-type all-solid-state cathode achieving long life

Nat Commun. 2024 May 2;15(1):3706. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48174-8.

Authors

Xiaolin Xiong^{1

2}, Ting Lin¹, Chunxi Tian^{1

2}, Guoliang Jiang^{1

2}, Rong Xu³, Hong Li¹, Liquan Chen¹, Liumin Suo^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ State Key Lab for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China. [email protected].
⁴ Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, China. [email protected].
⁵ Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. [email protected].

Abstract

Electrochemical-mechanical coupling poses enormous challenges to the interfacial and structural stability but create new opportunities to design innovative all-solid-state batteries from scratch. Relying on the solid-solid constraint in the space-limited domain structure, we propose to exploit the lithiation-induced stress to drive the active materials creep, thereby improving the structural integrity. For demonstration, we fabricate the creep-type all-solid-state cathode using creepable Se material and an all-in-one rigid ionic/electronic conducting Mo6Se8 framework. As indicated by the in-situ experiment and numerical simulation, this cathode presents unique capabilities in improving interparticle contact and avoiding particle fracture, leading to its superior electrochemical performance, including a superior long-cycle life of more than 3000 cycles at 0.5 C and a high volumetric energy density of 2460 Wh/L at the cathode level. We believe this innovative strategy to utilize mechanics to boost the electrochemical performance could shed light on the future design of all-solid-state batteries for practical applications.