Electrospinning carbon-coated hollow aluminum nanobeads fibers for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Abstract

Aluminum (Al) anodes remain a significant challenge for industrial applications, especially when incorporated into full cells. In this study, we introduce an innovative design featuring Al hollow nanobeads anchored to carbon fibers (Al HNBs/CF) to address the issue of cracking and pulverization during repeated charge and discharge cycles, thereby enhancing the structural stability of the Al-based anode. The carbon fiber buffer effectively enhances Al utilization and reaction uniformity, resulting in the Al HNBs/CF anode achieving a high specific capacity (∼834 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C) and exceptional electrochemical durability, with only 0.0062 % capacity degradation per cycle over 1000 cycles. Furthermore, when paired with a commercially available LiFePO4 (LFP) cathode, the full cell exhibits a satisfactory energy density surpassing that of most recently reported LFP-based lithium-ion batteries. These results suggest that our design effectively mitigates the challenges associated with Al-based anodes and holds promise for practical applications in portable electronics.