Enhancing glass anode performance for lithium‐ion batteries via crystallization

Abstract

AbstractWe investigate the thermal and electrochemical properties of xFe2O3‐(100‐x) P2O5 glass (x = 20, 30, 40, and 50 mol%) and 50Fe2O3‐50P2O5 (50FeP) glass‐ceramics as anodes for lithium‐ion batteries (LiBs). The results show that both the glass transition temperature and the energy bandgap monotonically decrease with the increasing Fe2O3 while a critical Fe2O3 content of 30 mol% is found to give glass the highest thermal stability, the largest capacity at 1 Ag‐1, and the lowest charge‐transfer resistance before cycling. Moreover, Fe3(P2O7)2 crystals formed during heat treatment in 50FeP glass effectively enhances the electrochemical properties. The optimum heat treatment condition for 50FeP glass is found at 1033 K for 4 h, that is, 1033 K‐4 h sample enables a reversible capacity of 237 mA h g−1 at the end of 1000 cycles at 1 Ag‐1, which is more than 1.5 times higher than that of the 50FeP glass‐based anode. These findings suggest that the Fe2O3‐P2O5 glass‐ceramics hold significant potential for the effective development of new types of glass anodes for future advanced LiBs.