Research

1. Materials

1. 1 Alkali metal Ion Batteries

It is found that Prussian blue has selective adsorption and preferentially adsorbs potassium ions in aqueous sodium potassium mixed electrolyte. The results show that the hybrid water system full cell assembled with the negative electrode material of sodium titanium phosphate has excellent performance.

Chunyi Liu, Xusheng Wang, Wenjun Deng, Chang Li, Jitao Chen, Mianqi Xue*, Rui Li*, Feng Pan, “Engineering Fast Ion Conduction and Selective Cation Channels for High-Rate and High-Voltage Hybrid Aqueous Battery”, Angewandte Chemie, 57(24):7046-7050，(2018). DOI: 10.1002/ange.201800479 (pdf)

Negative electrode materials of potassium ion batteries are limited by the negative potassium storage potential and cannot be used in conventional aqueous electrolytes. This work uses a high-concentration aqueous electrolyte to broaden the electrochemical stability window and combines Prussian blue cathode material and titanium potassium phosphate anode material to assemble an aqueous potassium ion full battery with excellent cycle performance.

Yibo Li, Wenjun Deng, Zhuqing Zhou, Chang Li, Man Zhang, Xinran Yuan, Jun Hu, Haibiao Chen, Rui Li,* "An Ultra-Long Life Aqueous Full K-Ion Battery", Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 9（5）2822-2829 ，(2020).DOI: 10.1039/D0TA10033A(pdf)

1.2 Zinc Ion batteries

The zinc-ion battery assembled by hydrothermally prepared magnesium vanadate material and quasi-solid gel electrolyte has excellent performance.

Wenjun Deng, Zhuqing Zhou, Yibo Li, Man Zhang, Xinran Yuan, Jun Hu, Zhengang Li, Chang Li, Rui Li,^* "High-Capacity Layered Magnesium Vanadate with Concentrated Gel Electrolyte toward High-Performance and Wide-Temperature Zinc-Ion Battery", ACS NANO, 14：15776-15785，(2020). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c06834 (pdf)

1.3 Others

The researches on the ion diffusion of electrode materials and the ion conduction of electrolytes in alkaline metal ion batteries are reviewed.

TieLei Shao, Chunyi Liu, Wenjun Deng, Chang Li, Xusheng Wang, Mianqi Xue,^* Rui Li,^* "Recent research on strategies to improve ion conduction in alkali metal-ion batteries", Batteries & Supercaps, 2:403-427, (2019). DOI: 10.1002/batt.201800147 (pdf)

2. Electrolyte

2.1 High concentration electrolytes

The high concentration potassium acetate electrolyte was proposed for the first time, which greatly widened the electrochemical stability window and laid a solid foundation for the follow-up work.

Zengying Tian, Wenjun Deng, Xusheng Wang, Chunyi Liu, Chang Li, Jitao Chen, Mianqi Xue, Rui Li*, Feng Pan, “Superconcentrated aqueous electrolyte to enhance energy density for advanced supercapacitors”, Functional Materials Letters, 10(6):1750081, (2017). DOI: 10.1142/S1793604717500813 (pdf)

On the basis of previous research, the research group proposed lithium potassium mixed ultra-concentrated aqueous electrolyte, and the supercapacitor assembled by this electrolyte has excellent energy density and low-temperature performance.

Wenjun Deng, Xusheng Wang, Chunyi Liu, Chang Li, Jitao Chen, Nan Zhu, Rui Li,^* Mianqi Xue,^* "Li/K mixed superconcentrated aqueous electrolyte enables high-performance hybrid aqueous supercapacitors", Energy Storage Materials, 20:373-379, (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ensm.2018.10.023 (pdf)

On the basis of ultra-concentrated aqueous electrolyte, the research group added organic solvent to prepare ultra-concentrated mixed electrolyte. This electrolyte not only has the advantage of non-combustion but also widens the electrochemical stability window, which provides a new direction for the development of an aqueous electrolyte.

Weijian Wang, Wenjun Deng, Xusheng Wang, Yibo Li, Zhuqing Zhou, Zongxiang Hu, Mianqi Xue, Rui Li,^* “A hybrid superconcentrated electrolyte enables 2.5 V carbon-based supercapacitors”, Chemical Communications, 56:7965-7968, (2020). DOI: 10.1039/D0CC02040K (pdf)

2.2 Gel electrolytes

A series of quasi solid-state gel electrolytes have been successfully applied to potassium ion batteries (ChemElectroChem, (2021). DOI: 10.1002/celc.202001509 )and zinc ion batteries（ACS NANO, (2020). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c06834 ）.

2.3 Others

The research group also has certain research on electrolyte additives. By adding a small amount of cobalt salt to the electrolyte of a conventional water-based sodium-ion battery, the cycle stability of the cathode material is significantly improved.

Tielei Shao, Chang Li, Chunyi Liu, Wenjun Deng, Weijian Wang, Mianqi Xue, Rui Li,^* "Electrolyte regulation enhances the stability of Prussian blue analogues in aqueous Na-ion storage", Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 7:1749-1755, (2019). DOI: 10.1039/C8TA10860A (pdf)