A method for achieving high-performance electrolytes in multivalent metal batteries through cation replacement.

The date is January 21, 2024.

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This piece is a work by Ingrid Fadelli from Tech Xplore.

With the rising usage of electric and hybrid vehicles, the importance of advancing safer and highly efficient battery technologies is escalating. Engineers aim to enhance the energy capacity and safety of batteries, with a focus on their scalability and durability.

Potential battery technologies, such as rechargeable multivalent metal batteries, which use efficient materials like magnesium (Mg) and calcium (Ca) as part of their anodes, could meet the demands of the electronics industry. With the correct blend of anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes, these batteries may exhibit high energy densities.

While various anode materials have been identified as materially and economically efficient, several proposed electrolytes are often hard to source or need complex synthesis processes, making large scale fabrication challenging.

New research from the Zhejiang University, the ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific, and Technological Innovation Center, and Dalian University of Technology unveils a universal method to achieve highly performing and scalable electrolytes for these multivalent metal batteries. Published in Nature Energy, their proposed method could facilitate the development of more affordable and reversible electrolyte systems.

As the authors of the research paper, Siyuang Li, Jiahui Zhang, and their colleagues, point out, there are obstacles to creating high-performance, cost-efficient electrolyte systems. The costly precursors and intricate synthesis processes hinder the exploration of cathode electrode-electrolyte interfaces. The researchers developed a cation replacement method using a zinc organoborate solvation structure to create efficient magnesium and calcium electrolytes.

The team's method commences with a chemical reaction between a reasonably priced Zn(BH4)2 precursor and varied fluoroalcohols, producing target anions with a branching structure. These anion solvates bonded with low-priced metal foils of higher metal activity to result in the intended solvation structures. The method also recommends a passivation layer based on two types of Ca solvates to prevent ongoing solvent decay and support stable battery cycling.

As further explained in the paper, the process enables high current resistance and improved electrochemical kinetics with a completely dissociated Mg organoborate electrolyte. The Ca organoborate electrolyte delivers a stable solid-electrolyte interphase.

So far, the proposed method has been employed to develop a battery prototype based on Mg/S, demonstrating promising results and underlining its potential for developing favorable and cost-efficient electrolytes for multivalent metal batteries.

In the future, this methodology could facilitate the design of various reversible electrolyte systems using cost-effective materials and simpler processing strategies. In turn, it may contribute to the creation of scalable, safe, multivalent metal batteries featuring higher energy densities.

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