Tuesday, 15 May 2018
Ballroom 6ABC (Washington State Convention Center)
Li-air batteries gained enormous interest in last few years for their attractive theoretical energy density compared to state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. However, low rate performance, deteriorated cycle life and energy inefficiencies hinder the progress and adoptability. Performance of non-aqueous Li-air batteries are retarded due to adverse reactions associated with non-aqueous electrolyte. As an alternative to unstable non-aqueous electrolytes generally used in Li-air batteries, inorganic metal salts are investigated as molten electrolytes at intermediate temperature. Present study investigates the use of LiNO3-KNO2-CsNO3 (37-39-24) eutectic salt mixtures at 140 °C as electrolyte, lithium as anode and vulcan carbon as cathode to demonstrate improved cycle life and energy efficient molten Li-air battery. X-ray diffraction and FESEM are used to show that Li2Ox is reversibly formed during cycling with a charge-discharge overpotential of 0.3 V after 100 cycles (limited capacity of 500 mAhgcarbon-1). Improved cyclability is attributed to better solubility of discharge product at preeminent temperature and the reduced cell resistance due to high ionic conductivity of molten electrolyte. Operating the Li-air battery in molten electrolytes at elevated temperature could open a new window for solving adverse problems associated with electrolytes.