Shen Yuting

The in situ TEM observation of rapid lithium encapsulation and release in LiCl nanoshells and nanotubes

In this work, we performed detailed in situ TEM observations of the rapid encapsulation and release of lithium in nanometric structures under e-beam irradiation. With fast kinetics, the e-beam irradiation induced the formation of a LiCl shell due to the surface reaction between lithium and the surrounding chloride. In parallel, a rapid lithium release from the LiCl surface shell underwent as a competitive process. The detailed dynamic encapsulation and releasing processes were revealed with enhanced time and spatial resolution. Lithium nanoparticles, nanorods and Li/LiCl core–shell nanoparticles and nanotubes were observed during these processes. Due to the important application of lithium materials in the energy storage field, where lithium encapsulation and releasing processes play the fundamentally important roles, our findings may trigger new application methods for lithium based energy storage, in which e-beam irradiation may be used to enhance the ultra-rapid energy harvesting or releasing process.