Yan-Bin Yin

Macroporous Interconnected Hollow Carbon Nanofibers Inspired by Golden‐Toad Eggs toward a Binder‐Free, High‐Rate, and Flexible Electrode

Inspired by the favorable structure and shape of golden-toad eggs, a self-standing macroporous active carbon fiber electrode is designed and fabricated via a facile and scalable strategy. After being decorated with ruthenium oxide, it endows Li-O2 batteries with superior electrochemical performances.

Flexible and Foldable Li–O2 Battery Based on Paper-Ink Cathode

A flexible freestanding air cathode inspired by traditional Chinese calligraphy art is built. When this novel electrode is employed as both a new concept cathode and current collector, to replace conventional rigid and bulky counterparts, a highly flexible and foldable Li-O2 battery with excellent mechanical strength and superior electrochemical performance is obtained.

Hierarchical Co3O4 porous nanowires as an efficient bifunctional cathode catalyst for long life Li-O2 batteries

Hierarchical Co3O4 porous nanowires (NWs) have been synthesized using a hydrothermal method followed by calcination. When employed as a cathode catalyst in non-aqueous Li-oxygen batteries, the Co3O4 NWs effectively improve both the round-trip efficiency and cycling stability, which can be attributed to the high catalytic activities of Co3O4 NWs for the oxygen reduction reaction and the oxygen evolution reaction during discharge and charge processes, respectively.

A Water-/Fireproof Flexible Lithium–Oxygen Battery Achieved by Synergy of Novel Architecture and Multifunctional Separator

To meet the increasing demands for portable and flexible devices in a rapidly developing society, it is urgently required to develop highly safe and flexible electrochemical energy-storage systems. Flexible lithium-oxygen batteries with high theoretical specific energy density are promising candidates; however, the conventional half-open structure design prevents it from working properly under water or fire conditions. Herein, as a proof-of-concept experiment, a highly safe flexible lithium-oxygen battery achieved by the synergy of a vital multifunctional structure design and a unique composite separator is proposed and fabricated. The structure can effectively prevent the invasion of water from the environment and combustion, which is further significantly consolidated with the help of a polyimide and poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) composite separator, which holds good water resistance, thermal stability, and ionic conductivity. Unexpectedly, the obtained lithium-oxygen battery exhibits superior flexibility, water resistance, thermal resistance, and cycling stability (up to 218 cycles; at a high current of 1 mA and capacity of 4 mA h). This novel water/fireproof, flexible lithium-oxygen battery is a promising candidate to power underwater flexible electronics.

Hybrid electrolyte with robust garnet-ceramic electrolyte for lithium anode protection in lithium-oxygen batteries

Rechargeable lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries have received intensive research interest due to its ultrahigh energy density, while its cycle stability is still hindered by the high reactivity of the Li anode with oxygen and moisture. To alleviate the corrosion of the metallic lithium anodes for achieving a stable Li-O2 battery, and as a proof-of-concept experiment, a distinctive hybrid electrolyte system with an organic/ceramic/organic electrolyte (OCOE) architecture is designed. Importantly, the cycle number of Li-O2 batteries with OCOE is significantly improved compared with batteries with an organic electrolyte (OE). This might be attributed to the effective suppression of the lithium anode corrosion caused by the OE degradation and the crossover of oxygen from the cathode. We consider that our facile, low-cost, and highly effective lithium protection strategy presents a new avenue to address the daunting corrosion problem of lithium metal anodes in Li-O2 batteries. In addition, the proposed strategy can be easily extended to other metal-O2 battery systems, such as Na-O2 batteries.

In Situ CVD Derived Co-N-C Composite as Highly Efficient Cathode for Flexible Li-O2 Batteries

To promote the development of high energy Li-O2 batteries, it is important to design and construct a suitable and effective oxygen-breathing cathode. Herein, activated cobalt-nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube/carbon nanofiber composites (Co-N-CNT/CNF) as the effective cathodes for Li-O2 batteries are prepared by in situ chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The unique architecture of these electrodes facilitates the rapid oxygen diffusion and electrolyte penetration. Meanwhile, the nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube/carbon nanofiber (N-CNT/CNF) and Co/CoNx serve as reaction sites to promote the formation/decomposition of discharge product. Li-O2 batteries with Co-N-CNT/CNF cathodes exhibit superior electrochemical performance in terms of a positive discharge plateau (2.81 V) and a low charge overpotential (0.61 V). Besides, Li-O2 batteries also present a high discharge capacity (11512.4 mAh g-1 at 100 mA g-1 ), and a long cycle life (130 cycles). Meanwhile, the Co-N-CNT/CNF cathode also has an excellent flexibility, thus the assembled flexible battery with Co-N-CNT/CNF can work normally and hold a wonderful capacity rate under various bending conditions.