Blade-Coatable Hexagonal Boron Nitride Ionogel Electrolytes for Scalable Production of Lithium Metal Batteries

TY - JOUR

T1 - Blade-Coatable Hexagonal Boron Nitride Ionogel Electrolytes for Scalable Production of Lithium Metal Batteries

AU - Thomas, Cory M.

AU - Hyun, Woo Jin

AU - Huang, Hsien Cheng

AU - Zeng, Davy

AU - Hersam, Mark C.

N1 - Funding Information: This work was primarily supported by the NSF Future Manufacturing Program (CMMI-2037026). In addition, C.M.T. is supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. DGE-1842165. The preparation of the hBN nanoplatelets was supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (Award 70NANB19H005) as part of the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD). Scanning electron microscopy and FTIR analyses were performed in the NUANCE facility at Northwestern University, which is supported by the Soft and Hybrid Nanotechnology Experimental (SHyNE) Resource (NSF ECCS-1542205), the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NSF DMR-1720139), the State of Illinois, and Northwestern University. Rheometry and laser profilometry were performed in the MatCI facility, which receives support from the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (NSF DMR-1720139). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2022/3/30

Y1 - 2022/3/30

N2 - Solid-state electrolytes have attracted significant attention for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries due to their potential to enable higher energy density technologies and improve cell safety by removing volatile liquid electrolytes. However, existing solid-state electrolyte materials lack sufficient electrochemical performance or require expensive and time-consuming processing methods that have prevented their wide-scale adoption. Here, a blade-coatable hexagonal boron nitride ionogel electrolyte is introduced that exhibits high room temperature ionic conductivity (>1 mS cm-1), is stable against lithium metal anodes, and can be applied over a wide area in a thin (<40 μm) and crack-free film. Furthermore, this blade-coatable slurry has a tunable viscosity to enable its use in existing battery manufacturing infrastructure. The resulting blade-coated hBN ionogel electrolyte is employed in a lithium metal battery with a LiFePO4 cathode, exhibiting superlative rate capability at room temperature with a 78% capacity retention after 500 cycles at a rate of 1C.

AB - Solid-state electrolytes have attracted significant attention for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries due to their potential to enable higher energy density technologies and improve cell safety by removing volatile liquid electrolytes. However, existing solid-state electrolyte materials lack sufficient electrochemical performance or require expensive and time-consuming processing methods that have prevented their wide-scale adoption. Here, a blade-coatable hexagonal boron nitride ionogel electrolyte is introduced that exhibits high room temperature ionic conductivity (>1 mS cm-1), is stable against lithium metal anodes, and can be applied over a wide area in a thin (<40 μm) and crack-free film. Furthermore, this blade-coatable slurry has a tunable viscosity to enable its use in existing battery manufacturing infrastructure. The resulting blade-coated hBN ionogel electrolyte is employed in a lithium metal battery with a LiFePO4 cathode, exhibiting superlative rate capability at room temperature with a 78% capacity retention after 500 cycles at a rate of 1C.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85127971802&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00535

DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.2c00535

M3 - Article

SN - 2380-8195

VL - 7

SP - 1558

EP - 1565

JO - ACS Energy Letters

JF - ACS Energy Letters

IS - 4

ER -