Abstract
In order to meet the sophisticated demands for large-scale applications such as electro-mobility, next generation energy storage technologies require advanced electrode active materials with enhanced gravimetric and volumetric capacities to achieve increased gravimetric energy and volumetric energy densities. However, most of these materials suffer from high 1st cycle active lithium losses, e.g., caused by solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, which in turn hinder their broad commercial use so far. In general, the loss of active lithium permanently decreases the available energy by the consumption of lithium from the positive electrode material. Pre-lithiation is considered as a highly appealing technique to compensate for active lithium losses and, therefore, to increase the practical energy density. Various pre-lithiation techniques have been evaluated so far, including electrochemical and chemical pre-lithiation, pre-lithiation with the help of additives or the pre-lithiation by direct contact to lithium metal. In this review article, we will give a comprehensive overview about the various concepts for pre lithiation and controversially discuss their advantages and challenges. Furthermore, we will critically discuss possible effects on the cell performance and stability and assess the techniques with regard to their possible commercial exploration.
Highlights
A major strategy to tackle the sophisticated challenges associated with the increasing shortages of non-renewable resources and the environmental impact of their combustion, i.e. pollution and global warming, is the integration of clean and highly efficient energy storage technologies based on renewables into different energy sectors, for transportation and grid storage
This issue was addressed by Wu et al by using fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) as electrolyte additive during electrochemical pre-lithiation of Si-based anodes, to form an optimized solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer, which can prevent side reactions consuming active lithium related to oxygen crossover processes
Pre-lithiation, which refers to the addition of active lithium to the cell before operation, is considered as a highly attractive strategy to compensate the active lithium losses, e.g., caused by formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) at the negative electrode in the first charge/discharge cycle(s) or by irreversible lithium trapping
Summary
A major strategy to tackle the sophisticated challenges associated with the increasing shortages of non-renewable (fossil) resources and the environmental impact of their combustion, i.e. (air-) pollution and global warming, is the integration of clean and highly efficient energy storage technologies based on renewables (wind power, solar energy, etc.) into different energy sectors, for transportation and grid storage. Describes the addition of lithium to the active lithium content (=reversibly transferable lithium ions between positive and negative electrode) of a LIB prior to battery cell operation [20]. One major strategy to overcome this issue is to store a certain amount of active lithium in the negative electrode by pre-lithiation prior to charge/discharge cycling (Figure 1b) This (partially) compensates for the ALL and leads to an increased active lithium content after the 1st cycle and, to an enhanced remaining cell energy. In the majority of cases and independent from the pre-treatment concept, pre-lithiation is conducted to compensate the 1st cycle active lithium loss, attributed mainly to SEI formation This increases the remaining amount of active lithium inside the cell during ongoing charge/discharge cycling, leading to an increased reversible capacity (Figure 1b,c) and resulting in an increased energy density.
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