Revisiting the storage capacity limit of graphite battery anodes: spontaneous lithium overintercalation at ambient pressure

TL;DR

This study reveals that graphite anodes in lithium-ion batteries can spontaneously overintercalate lithium beyond the traditional capacity limit of LiC6 under ambient conditions, challenging long-held assumptions.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of superdense lithium intercalation compounds in graphite at ambient pressure, supported by experimental NMR evidence and ab initio calculations, redefining capacity limits.

Findings

Superdense LiC$_{6-x}$ compounds form spontaneously at ambient conditions.

Overintercalation beyond LiC$_6$ is possible without high pressure.

Ab initio calculations support the stability of superdense intercalation structures.

Abstract

The market quest for fast-charging, safe, long-lasting and performant batteries drives the exploration of new energy storage materials, but also promotes fundamental investigations of materials already widely used. Presently, revamped interest in anode materials is observed -- primarily graphite electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Here, we focus on the upper limit of lithium intercalation in the morphologically quasi-ideal highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), with a LiC$_6$ stoichiometry corresponding to 100\% state of charge (SOC). We prepared a sample by immersion in liquid lithium at ambient pressure and investigated it by static $^7$Li nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). We resolved unexpected signatures of superdense intercalation compounds, LiC$_{6-x}$. These have been ruled out for decades, since the highest geometrically accessible composition, LiC$_2$, can only be prepared under high pressure. We thus challenge the widespread notion that any additional intercalation beyond LiC$_6$ is not possible under ambient conditions. We monitored the sample upon calendaric aging and employed ab initio calculations to rationalise the NMR results. The computed relative stabilities of different superdense configurations reveal that non-negligible overintercalation does proceed spontaneously beyond the currently accepted capacity limit.