浦项科技大学的一个研究小组成功开发了无阳极的锂电池。该设计将能量密度最大化，并将能量密度提高了40%。

浦项科技大学（POSTECH）的研究团队由Soojin Park教授和博士生Sungjin Cho（化学系）领导，与蔚山科技大学（UNIST）的Dong-Hwa Seo教授和Dong Yeon Kim博士（能源和化学工程学院）合作，开发了无阳极的锂电池，其性能是单次充电就有很长的电池寿命。

该团队的研究论文已发表在《先进功能材料》上。

仅在去年，韩国新注册的电动汽车（EVs）数量就超过了10万辆。挪威是唯一一个与此类数字相匹配的国家。决定现在常见的电动汽车的电池寿命和充电速度的核心材料是阳极材料。韩国的国内电池行业一直致力于寻找革命性的方法，通过引进新技术或其他阳极材料来提高电池容量。该团队问道："如果我们完全摆脱阳极材料呢？"

新开发的无阳极电池的体积能量密度为977Wh/L，比传统电池（700wh/L）高40%。

电池通常会改变阳极材料的结构，因为锂离子在反复的充电和放电过程中流入和流出电极。这就是为什么电池的容量会随着时间的推移而减少。人们认为，如果能够只用没有阳极材料的裸阳极电流收集器进行充电和放电，能量密度--决定了电池容量--将会增加。然而，这种方法有一个关键的弱点，导致阳极体积明显膨胀，降低了电池的生命周期。它膨胀的原因是在阳极中没有稳定的锂存储。

为了克服这个问题，研究小组在常用的碳酸盐基液体电解质中，通过添加一种离子导电基质，成功开发出了无阳极电池。该基质不仅形成了一个阳极保护层，而且还有助于最大限度地减少阳极的体积膨胀。

该团队的研究表明，该电池在碳酸盐基液体电解质中长期保持4.2mAh cm-2的高容量和2.1 mA cm-2的高电流密度。这也在理论和实验中证明了基质可以储存锂。

此外，更引人注意的是，该团队通过使用基于Argyrodite的硫化物基固体电解质，成功展示了固态半电池。预计这种电池将加速非爆炸性电池的商业化，因为它能在更长时间内保持高容量。

原文：

Researchers Develop Lithium Battery with 40% More Energy Density

A Pohang University of Science & Technology research team succeeded in developing an anode-free lithium battery. The design maximized energy density and improved energy density by 40%.

The Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) research team led by Professor Soojin Park and PhD candidate Sungjin Cho (Department of Chemistry) in collaboration with Professor Dong-Hwa Seo and Dr. Dong Yeon Kim (School of Energy and Chemical Engineering) at Ulsan Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) have developed anode-free lithium batteries with performance of long battery life on a single charge.

The team’s study paper has been published in Advanced Functional Materials.

The number of newly registered electric vehicles (EVs) in Korea surpassed 100,000 units last year alone. Norway is the only other country to match such numbers. The core materials that determine the battery life and charging speed of now commonly seen EVs are anode materials. Korea’s domestic battery industry has been committed to finding revolutionary ways to increase the battery capacity by introducing new technologies or other anode materials. The team asked, “What if we get rid of anode materials altogether?”

The newly developed anode-free battery has a volumetric energy density of 977Wh/L which is 40% higher than the conventional batteries (700wh/L).

Batteries usually change the structure of anode materials as lithium ions flow to and from the electrode during repetitive charging and discharging. This is why the battery capacity decreases over time. It was thought that if it was possible to charge and discharge only with a bare anode current collector without anode materials, the energy density – which determines the battery capacity – would increase. However, this method had a critical weakness which causes significant swelling of the anode volume and reduces the battery lifecycle. It swelled because there was no stable storage for lithium in the anode.

To overcome this issue, the research team succeeded in developing an anode-free battery in a commonly-used carbonate-based liquid electrolyte by adding an ion conductive substrate. The substrate not only forms an anode protective layer but also helps minimize the bulk expansion of the anode.

The team’s study showed that the battery maintained high capacity of 4.2mAh cm-2 and high current density of 2.1 mA cm-2 for a long period in the carbonate-based liquid electrolyte. It was also proven both in theory and through experiments that substrates can store lithium.

Additionally, what’s drawing even more attention is that the team successfully demonstrated the solid- state half-cells by using Argyrodite-based sulfide-based solid electrolyte. It is anticipated that this battery will accelerate the commercialization of non-explosive batteries since it maintains high capacity for longer periods.