A Thermally Conductive Separator for Stable Li Metal Anodes

Li metal anodes have attracted considerable research interest due to their low redox potential (-3.04 V vs standard hydrogen electrode) and high theoretical gravimetric capacity of 3861 mAh/g. Battery technologies using Li metal anodes have shown much higher energy density than current Li-ion batteries (LIBs) such as Li-O-2 and Li-S systems. However, issues related to dendritic Li formation and low Coulombic efficiency have prevented the use of Li metal anode technology in many practical applications. In this paper, a thermally conductive separator coated with boron-nitride (BN) nano-sheets has been developed to improve the stability of the Li metal anodes. It is found that using the BN-coated separator in a conventional organic carbonate-based electrolyte results in the Coulombic efficiency stabilizing at 92% over 100 cycles at a current rate of 0.5 mA/cm(2) and 88% at 1.0 mA/cm(2). The improved Coulombic efficiency and reliability of the Li metal anodes is due to the more homogeneous thermal distribution resulting from the thermally conductive BN coating and to the smaller surface area of initial Li deposition.