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Titanium dioxide ceramic functionalized with silane organic group is used here to improve polyethylene oxide electrolyte properties. The results demonstrate the effective role of the silane coating in enhancing the polymer–ceramic interactions and, consequently, the polymer electrolyte properties for application in lithium polymer battery. The ceramic added electrolyte shows conductivity higher than 10 − 4 S cm − 1 above 65 °C and a transference number approaching 0.5. The electrolyte membrane is then selected as the polymer separator in a lithium cell using LiFePO 4 electrode, characterized by enhanced behavior in terms of capacity, cycling stability and efficiency.

A tin–carbon composite synthesized by high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) technique is characterized here as an anode material for lithium ion battery. The composite morphology and structure are studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively, and its electrochemical behavior is characterized by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and galvanostatic cycling in lithium cell. The electrode evidences highly nanostructured morphology and enhanced lithium–tin alloying–de-alloying process stability as the mechanical milling time is increased, with capacity ranging from 500 to 400 mAh g−1. Further important characteristic of the tin–carbon nanostructure reported here is the very high rate capability, extending up to 2 A g−1, that finally allows to its application in a high voltage, high rate lithium ion cell using the LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 spinel cathode. The cell shows a working voltage of 4.3 V and a capacity of 120 mAh g−1 obtained at 1 C rate. The very promising features of the cell, its high energy and power density, and the low cost of the involved materials, suggest that the electrode reported here can be efficiently used as an anode in advanced configuration lithium ion battery.

In this paper we describe a Ni–Sn intermetallic material obtained via template electroplating synthesis. The structure and the morphology of this material are investigated by X ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analyses. We demonstrate that Ni–Sn behaves as a sub-micrometric electrode showing a favourable response when cycled in a lithium cell. The results here reported suggest that the template electroplating is a promising synthetic approach that can lead to an optimized structure and morphology of the Ni–Sn electrode, such as to confer it a role of a high capacity anode in advanced lithium ion batteries.

Electrification has been a major focus of BMW and large efforts have been initiated in order to investigate technologies of high potential to be integrated in future electric vehicles. Metal-air and particularly lithium-air batteries [1] are one of the possible solutions that may substantially enhance the electric drive range. The main challenges in Li-air batteries are related to the stability of the electrolyte and safety of the negative electrode. BMW, together with three scientific teams initiated a project focusing on the use of ionic liquids and alternative anodes as potential components for Li-air batteries. Due to their excellent electrochemical and chemical properties, onium-based ionic liquids [2] were chosen as the first candidates. The presentation will describe the electrochemical behaviour of a Li-air cell comprising such ionic liquid-based electrolytes. The results prove the concept that the chosen ionic liquid may assure the proper lithium-oxygen cell operation and electrochemical stability during cycling. In this presentation work towards system safety improvement will be also shown [3]. In this field, alternatives to the lithium metal anode were investigated. The latter include: i) tin-carbon composite, ii) carbon-coated Zn1-xFexO [4], iii) SiOx-carbon and SiOx-silicon materials. Electrochemical tests have shown reversible behaviour of all materials both in conventional organic electrolytes as well as in electrolytes based on ionic liquids. References: Girishkumar G., McCloskey B., Luntz A.C., Wanson S., Wilcke W.: Lithium-air battery: Promise and Challenges. J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 2010, 1 (14), p. 2193-2203. Armand M., Endres F., MacFarlane D.R., Ohno H., Scrosati B.: Ionic-liquid materials for the Electrochemical Challenges. Nature Mat., 2009, 8 (8), p. 621-629. Hassoun J., Jung H.G., Lee D.J., Park J.B., Amine K., Sun Y.K., Scrosati B.: A Metal-Free, Lithium-Ion Oxygen Battery: A Step Forward to Safety in Lithium-Air Batteries. Nano Letters, 2012, 12, p. 5775-5779. Bresser D., Mueller F., Fiedler M., Krueger S., Kloepsch R., Baither D., Winter M., Paillard E., Passerini S.: Transition-Metal-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles as a New Lithium-Ion Anode Material. Chemistry of Materials, 2013, 25 (24), p. 4977-4985.

Due to its high energy density, largely exceeding that of conventional lithium-ion batteries,[1–2] the Li/O2 battery is presently considered as a very promising energy storage system. However, the practical development of this battery is still hindered by several issues, such as: 1) the limited cycle number, affecting its life; 2) the high charge–discharge polarization, resulting in low energy efficiency, and 3) the occurrence of side processes due to moisture and carbon dioxide contamination that preventing its use in open air. The choice of solvent and of electrolyte salt is expected to play a key role in influencing the cell behavior. To further investigate this important aspect, in this work we have examined the response of a Li/O2 cell using a tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether electrolyte solutions, with four different salts, that is, LiPF6, LiClO4, LiCF3SO3, LiN(SO2CF3)2. This comparative study demonstrates that LiCF3SO3 salt is the best choice for assuring low cell polarization [3]. [1] B. Scrosati, J. Hassoun, Y.-K. Sun, Energy Environ. Sci. 2011, 4, 3287 –3295. [2] G. Girishkumar, B. McCloskey, A. C. Luntz, S. Swanson, W. Wilcke, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2010, 1, 2193– 2203. [3] Giuseppe Antonio Elia, Jin-Bum Park, Yang-Kook Sun, Bruno Scrosati, Jusef Hassoun, ChemElectroChem, DOI: 10.1002/celc.201300160.

We demonstrate the feasibility of a lithium ion battery (LIB) using graphene nanosheets (GNS) as the anode in combination with a LiNi(0.5)Mn(1.5)O4 (LNMO) high voltage, spinel-structure cathode. The GNS anode is characterized by a reversible capacity of the order of 600 mA h g(-1) and a working voltage of around 0.9 V, while the 4.8-V cathode has a theoretical capacity of 146.7 mA h g(-1). The full GNS/LiNi(0.5)Mn(1.5)O4 cell has an average working voltage of about 3.75 V and a capacity of the order of 100 mA h g(-1). The findings of this paper suggest that the graphene may be proposed as a suitable anode for application in lithium ion batteries.

A critical overview of the latest developments in the aluminum battery technologies is reported. The substitution of lithium with alternative metal anodes characterized by lower cost and higher abundance is nowadays one of the most widely explored paths to reduce the cost of electrochemical storage systems and enable long-term sustainability. Aluminum based secondary batteries could be a viable alternative to the present Li-ion technology because of their high volumetric capacity (8040 mAh cm(-3) for Al vs 2046 mAh cm(-3) for Li). Additionally, the low cost aluminum makes these batteries appealing for large-scale electrical energy storage. Here, we describe the evolution of the various aluminum systems, starting from those based on aqueous electrolytes to, in more details, those based on non-aqueous electrolytes. Particular attention has been dedicated to the latest development of electrolytic media characterized by low reactivity towards other cell components. The attention is then focused on electrode materials enabling the reversible aluminum intercalation-deintercalation process. Finally, we touch on the topic of high-capacity aluminum-sulfur batteries, attempting to forecast their chances to reach the status of practical energy storage systems.