Rechargeable batteries to benefit from the development of lithium-loving foams.
Lithium batteries could soon enjoy puffed-up performance thanks to a highly ordered inorganic foam discovered at KAUST. The self-assembling foam features a complex hierarchical structure that allows it to repeatedly soak up and then release large quantities of lithium ions with ease. The material could become a key component of fast-charging, long-lived lithium batteries.
The inorganic substance molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been earmarked as a promising potential lithium-ion battery (LIB) anode material. “Its high theoretical capacity for lithium coupled with its earth abundance and its easy solution processability make MoS2 an attractive LIB anode candidate,” says Xuan Wei, a Ph.D. student in Vincent Tung’s labs, who led the work.
Typically, however, MoS2 consists of atomically thin 2D layers, stacked like sheets of paper. “This brittle layered structure lacks electrochemical stability and limits lithium-ion diffusion into and out of the material,” Wei says.
Tung and Wei, along with their collaborators at Aramco, sought to convert 2D MoS2 nanosheets into a robust 3D material suited to battery anode use. “When I joined the lab in 2018, we started to develop a technique called electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing to build 3D structures from 2D MoS2 nanosheets,” Wei says. “Initially, we could only synthesize fluffy and irregular 3D ‘crumples,’ which were very brittle,” she recalls.
After testing dozens of conditions, the team eventually hit upon a setup in which the nanosheets form an organized stable 3D foam. “Once we found the optimum conditions, the foam self-assembly process seems to happen naturally and simply upon evaporation,” she says.
Read more at KAUST Discovery.
