One-step stirring preparation of room temperature liquid metal negative electrode for the lithium-ion battery

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple high-speed stirring method to prepare a room-temperature liquid metal electrode slurry for lithium-ion batteries, demonstrating promising capacity and stable cycling behavior.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, straightforward method to produce liquid metal electrodes with evenly distributed liquid particles for LIBs.

Findings

Initial discharge capacity of 1148 mAh g-1

Stable discharge capacity of 350 mAh g-1

Liquid-solid phase transition during lithium insertion

Abstract

As a new type of self-healing material, room-temperature liquid metal (LM) composed of Ga, In and Sn is a promising anode in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). It is difficult to directly prepare an electrode slurry with pure LM. Here, the LM electrode slurry was successfully prepared by simple high-speed stirring method. The LM in the slurry was evenly distributed in the form of liquid particles (average size 100 {\mu}m) and no aggregation occurred. The initial discharge specific capacity of LM is 1148 mAh g-1, and the stable discharge specific capacity is 350 mAh g-1. Cyclic voltammetry measurements show that three pairs of obvious reduction peaks and oxidation occur in LM anodes at 0.37 V,0.67 V,1.02 V and 0.72 V,0.79 V,0.97 V. In the process of lithium insertion, the LM undergoes a liquid-solid phase transition, and when it is delithiated, it will be converted into a liquid phase. The SEI film consumed active lithium and electrolyte during the long cycle, resulting in loss of reversible capacity.