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Decoupling electron and ion storage and the path from interfacial storage to artificial electrodes

Nature Energy volume 3, pages 102–108 (2018)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 23 April 2018

A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 28 March 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

The requirements for rechargeable batteries place high demands on the electrodes. Efficient storage means accommodating both ions and electrons, not only in substantial amounts, but also with substantial velocities. The materials’ space could be largely extended by decoupling the roles of ions and electrons such that transport and accommodation of ions take place in one phase of a composite, and transport and accommodation of electrons in the other phase. Here we discuss this synergistic concept being equally applicable for positive and negative electrodes along with examples from the literature for Li-based and Ag-based cells. Not only does the concept have the potential to mitigate the trade-off between power density and energy density, it also enables a generalized view of bulk and interfacial storage as necessary for nanocrystals. It furthermore allows for testable predictions of heterogeneous storage in passivation layers, dependence of transfer resistance on the state of charge, or heterogeneous storage of hydrogen at appropriate contacts. We also present an outlook on constructing artificial mixed-conductor electrodes that have the potential to achieve both high energy density and high power density.

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Fig. 1: General concept of job-sharing mechanism.
Fig. 2: Ultrafast incorporation and ex-corporation of Ag in RbAg4I5:C composites.
Fig. 3: Literature examples of job-sharing storage.
Fig. 4: Charge carrier profiles for various relevant contact problems.

Change history

  • 23 April 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, in the sentence “It is worthy of note that the final LiF-free situation characterized by MnO taking up the holes and the (F– containing) MnO surface taking up the lithium ions is also a subcase of the job-sharing concept23.”, the word ‘holes’ should have been ‘electrons’. This has now been corrected.

  • 28 March 2018

    In the version of this Perspective originally published, the sentence ‘Supplementary information is available for this paper at https://doi.org/s41560-017-0084-x.’ was incorrectly included; there is no Supplementary Information for this content. The sentence has now been removed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank L. Fu and E. Kotomin for useful discussions and C. Wu for reading the manuscript.

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  1. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany

    Chia-Chin Chen & Joachim Maier

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Correspondence to Joachim Maier.

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Chen, CC., Maier, J. Decoupling electron and ion storage and the path from interfacial storage to artificial electrodes. Nat Energy 3, 102–108 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0084-x

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