(Invited) Against the Odds: A High Power Mg Battery

Abstract

To enable societal decarbonization, battery technologies that meet the application requirements in terms of safety, cost, energy density, performance reliability and sustainability are needed. Since commercially available battery technologies are not capable of meeting these demands, global research efforts have been increasingly focused on alternative battery chemistries such as those utilizing high capacity metal anodes such as Li and Mg. The main issue in Li metal batteries results from the highly reactive and dendrite prone Li metal, a challenge that is considerably relieved in rechargeable Mg metal batteries. However, Mg batteries suffer from sluggish discharge/charge kinetics caused by strong Mg2+ interaction with solvents and host solid state structures. [1,2,3]. Efforts have focused on improving Mg2+ diffusion in cathodes, whilst the impact of Mg ion coordination in the electrolyte on enabling or prohibiting the electrode function has received very little attention.[4]. Herein, we will discuss our recent efforts toward overcoming these issues through a tailored weakly coordinating electrolyte and a kinetically favored cathode that circumvent the issue of poor Mg ion diffusion.[5] References [1] Choi, J. W., Aurbach, D. Nature Reviews Materials 1, 2016, 16013, 1.[2] Mohtadi, R., Orimo, S. Nature Reviews Materials, 2016, 2,16091, 1311.[3] Mohtadi, R., Mizuno, F. Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1291.[4] Kar, M., Tutusaus, O., MacFarlane, D.R., Mohtadi, R. Energy & Environmental Science, 2019, 12, 566.[5] Dong H., Tutusaus O., Mohtadi R., Yao. Y. et al, Nature Energy, 2020, 5, 1043.