A systematic evaluation of charge-discharge behaviors, performance, and rate-capability of Al-ion batteries

Abstract

The improvement of the intercalation electrodes for Al-ion batteries needs a deep understanding of the relation of charge-discharge parameters, especially the specific capacity (C) and the charge-discharge rate (R). In this paper, we extract many experimental charge-discharge data (C and R) from the literature. Evaluating the data, we employ an approach which has been proposed for the normalization and standardization of the intercalation batteries’ data. The approach presents an appropriate manner for assessing the goodness of a given electrode and cell performance. The data of Al-ion batteries’ electrode materials show more distribution in comparison with Li-ion and Na-ion batteries. We find that the distribution of the curves is due to three main parameters, namely synthesis method, electrolyte type, and substrate of the electrode. It is found that among the considered materials the carbon-based electrodes including graphene, carbon nanotube, and graphite provide the best performance and rate-capability, while the MoS2 electrode shows the poorest one. It is concluded that (de)intercalation of AlCl4− ions has a faster kinetic than Al3+ ions. Accordingly, an insight for the perspective of the future researches of the intercalation batteries is suggested. This study helps finding appropriate materials (electrode, electrolyte, and substrate), and paves the way for optimization of the cells. Noteworthy, this paper is vanguard for this kind of evaluations and its methodology can be used for other kind of cells and electrodes.