Chemical Research in Chinese Universities ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3): 386-401.doi: 10.1007/s40242-020-0098-y

• Reviews • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Advanced Current Collectors for Alkali Metal Anodes

CHEN Jianyu, XU Xin, HE Qian, MA Yanwen   

  1. Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays, Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials(IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials(SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
  • Received:2020-04-08 Revised:2020-04-27 Online:2020-06-01 Published:2020-05-30
  • Contact: MA Yanwen E-mail:iamywma@njupt.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51772157, 21905141), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, China(No.YX03003), the Keypoint Research and Invention Program of Jiangsu Province, China(No.BE2018010-3), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials(SICAM) and the Synergetic Innovation Center for Organic Electronics and Information Displays of Nanjing University of Post & Telecommunication, China.

Abstract: High-energy-density batteries are in urgent need to solve the ever-increasing energy storage demand for portable electronic devices, electric vehicles, and renewable solar and wind energy systems. Alkali metals, typically lithium(Li), sodium(Na) and potassium(K), are considered as the promising anode materials owing to their low electrochemical potential, low density, and high theoretical gravimetric capacities. However, the problem of dendrite growth of alkali metals during their plating/stripping process will lead to low Coulombic efficiencies, a short lifespan and huge volume expansion, eventually hindering their practical commercialization. To resolve this issue, a very effective approach is engineering the anodes on structured current collectors. This review summarizes the development of the alkali metal batteries and discusses the recent advances in rational design of anode current collectors. First, the challenges and strategies of suppressing alkali-metal dendrite growth are presented. Then the special attention is paid to the novel current collector design for dendrite-free alkali metal anodes. Finally, we give conclusions and perspective on the current challenges and future research directions toward advanced anode current collectors for alkali metal batteries.

Key words: High-energy-density battery, Alkali metal anode, Dendrite growth, Growth mechanism, Current collector