Microstructurally composed nanoparticle assemblies as electroactive materials for lithium-ion battery electrodes

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries are a well-established technology that has seen steady gains in performance based on materials chemistry as well as microstructure design and assembly over the past several decades. There are many material selections available when designing and assembling the device such as electro-active species, additives, and particle size/morphology to name a few. Many of the research proclamations focusing on the advantages of nanosized electrodes have yet to find commercial application, and considerable improvements in energy density and stability are still necessary in order to achieve energy storage parity. Therefore, the design and use of kinetically stabilized nanostructures should be considered. Over the past several years, significant studies have been conducted examining the synthesis and performance of heterogeneous structures. While heterogeneous structures typically refer to the combination of two or more materials, in this case it refers to architectures displaying more than one size scale (i.e., micro/nano). A great deal of recent efforts have focused on the formation and understanding of nano-particle superstructures with a vast range of architectures. The design of micro-structurally composed nanoparticle assemblies would, for instance, possess the structural and chemical stability of microsized electrodes while exploiting the beneficial properties associated with nanosized electrodes and their large specific surface area.