Developing highly reversible Li–CO2 batteries: from on-chip exploration to practical application

Manman Wang; Kai Yang; Yuchen Ji; Xiaobin Liao; Guangpeng Zhang; Mateus G. Masteghin; Nianhua Peng; Filipe Richheimer; Huanxin Li; Jianan Wang; Xinhua Liu; Shichun Yang; Enrico Petrucco; Paul Shearing; Fernando A. Castro; S. Ravi P. Silva; Yan Zhao; Feng Pan; Yunlong Zhao

doi:10.1039/D3EE00794D

Developing highly reversible Li–CO₂ batteries: from on-chip exploration to practical application†

Manman Wang,

‡^a Kai Yang,‡*^ab Yuchen Ji,‡^b Xiaobin Liao,

^c Guangpeng Zhang,^a Mateus G. Masteghin,

^a Nianhua Peng,^d Filipe Richheimer,^e Huanxin Li,^f Jianan Wang,

^g Xinhua Liu,

^h Shichun Yang,^h Enrico Petrucco,ⁱ Paul Shearing,

^j Fernando A. Castro,^ae S. Ravi P. Silva,

^a Yan Zhao,

^c Feng Pan

*^b and Yunlong Zhao

*^aek

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Advanced Technology Institute, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK
E-mail: kai.yang@surrey.ac.uk

^b School of Advanced Materials, Peking University, Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China
E-mail: panfeng@pkusz.edu.cn

^c State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

^d Surrey Ion Beam Centre, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK

^e National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, UK

^f Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, UK

^g Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China

^h School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China

ⁱ Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, Blounts Court, Sonning Common, Reading, UK

^j Electrochemical Innovation Lab, Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 7JE, UK

^k Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
E-mail: yunlong.zhao@imperial.ac.uk

Abstract

Li–CO₂ batteries (LCBs) hold significant potential for meeting the energy transition requirements and mitigating global CO₂ emissions. However, the development of efficient LCBs is still in its early stages, necessitating the search for highly effective electrocatalysts and a deeper understanding of their mechanisms. To address these challenges, we have designed a versatile on-chip electrochemical testing platform, which enables simultaneous catalyst screening and in-situ analysis of the chemical composition and morphological evolution of reaction products. Six different metal nanoparticle catalysts were evaluated and it was found that Pt-based LCBs demonstrated a low overpotential (∼0.55 V). The reaction pathways and reversible nature of the LCBs were studied using in situ electrochemical Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, and were supported by ab initio calculations. As a result of the platform studies, LCB coin cells and pouch cells were fabricated which demonstrated high capacity, stability, and an energy efficiency of up to 90%. A multimodal lab-on-a-chip platform has a wide range of applications in other systems, such as metal–air batteries, electrocatalysts, fuel cells, and photoelectrochemical systems, thereby opening up new opportunities for rapid catalyst screening, mechanism investigation, and the development of practical applications.

This article is part of the themed collection: Recent Open Access Articles

Energy & Environmental Science

Developing highly reversible Li–CO₂ batteries: from on-chip exploration to practical application†

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