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Carbon Nanofiber Host with Directed Gradient Pore Size for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anodes

Zhang, Chenyu; Chen, Kai; Li, Xiaoxiao; Wang, Zhaoyang; Yang, Shengyuan; Bagherzadeh, Roohollah; Lai, Feili; ... Liu, Tianxi; + view all (2025) Carbon Nanofiber Host with Directed Gradient Pore Size for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anodes. ACS Applied Energy Materials , 8 (9) pp. 6203-6212. 10.1021/acsaem.5c00632.

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Abstract

Three-dimensional carbon nanofibers with high conductivity, high specific surface area, and high porosity (≥70%) can be used as hosts for lithium metal storage. However, lithium ions easily concentrate at the top surface of the conductive carbon hosts during electrodeposition, making the internal space of the hosts largely inaccessible and ultimately leading to the growth of lithium dendrites on the top surface. Therefore, a conductive carbon nanofiber host with a directed gradient pore structure is reported in this work (signed as GPCF), based on two carbon nanofiber networks with both a small pore size (∼2.6 μm) as the current collector side and a large pore size (∼3.9 μm) facing the separator side. As a result, the uniform lithium-ion flow with a small ion concentration gradient from the separator to the current collector side is formed within GPCF, to enable the dendrite-free lithium deposition morphology. The GPCF anode can run for more than 160 cycles at 0.5 mA cm–2 and 1 mAh cm–2, and the Coulombic efficiency is up to 99%. In contrast, the carbon nanofiber hosts with only small, large, or inverse gradient pore size structures easily form significant “dead Li” after 80, 120, and 100 cycles, respectively, and the Coulombic efficiency fluctuates severely. The above results reveal that the elaborately designed carbon nanofiber hosts with a directed gradient pore size can significantly homogenize the lithium-ion flow at the anode side to improve the electrochemical performance of lithium metal batteries.

Type: Article
Title: Carbon Nanofiber Host with Directed Gradient Pore Size for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anodes
DOI: 10.1021/acsaem.5c00632
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.5c00632
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author-accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: carbon nanofiber host, electrospinning, directed gradient pore size, three-dimensional porous structure, lithium metal anode
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209230
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