Reported by: Yan Mingxing
Translated by: Kong Ziqin
Edited by: Daniel Penistone
“Why does the phone run out of electricity so quickly?” “Why can the phone’s battery not last so long?” The users of smartphones are usually faced such troubles. The anode material for smartphones’ lithium-ion battery is one of the keys that determines the performance of batteries, including charge-discharge efficiency and cycle life. Recently, a chemistry team researching energy conversion materials led by Chen Gang, a professor in the School of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, has achieved new progress in the study of anode materials for lithium-ion batteries. The research results have been published in two renowned journals in the field of energy and material chemistry—“Nano Energy” (Nano Energy, 2015 Impact Factor 10.325) and “Adv. Funct. Mater.” (Adv. Funct. Mater., 2015 Impact Factor 11.805). Both of the two dissertations were written by Yan Chunshuang, a doctoral student admitted in 2013.
Edge dislocation surface modification: A new and efficient strategy for realizing outstanding lithium storage performance was published in “Nano Energy”, suggesting a new strategy based on edge dislocation surface to effectively alleviate the volume expansion during charging and discharging. In lithium ion batteries, lithium ions have different migration paths, and some lithium ions only have to run “hundreds of meters”, while others have to run “a marathon”. In accordance with the strategy, the anode material made of cobalt oxide with open channels for lithium ions has been synthesized for the first time, offering lithium ions a “100-meter track” and making a new breakthrough in cycling stability and rate performance. With a current density of 1A g-1, the discharge capacity after 200 times of charging and discharging after is still as high as 1142 mAh g-1. Template-Based Engineering of Carbon-Doped Co3O4 Hollow Nanofibers as Anode Materials for Lithium-Ion Batteries was published in “Adv. Funct. Mater.”. The dissertation uses non-metallic carbon doping to realize the intrinsic changes of materials’ electrical conductivity and increase semiconductors’ conductivity to that of conductors, thus significantly improving electrochemical performance. At high current density of 3A g-1, the discharge capacity is twice as much as the commercial graphite anode material, providing a new idea of how to improve the electrochemical properties of anode materials made of oxides and their practical application. Once the technology can be applied practically, smartphones’ frequency of charging can be significantly reduced.
Established in 2005, the chemistry research team mainly engages in research into energy conversion materials, such as solar photocatalytic materials and advanced anode materials for batteries. Over the past 5 years, this team has published more than 110 papers in SCI with each paper’s impact factor exceeding 4, of which 2 exceed 20 and 4 are more than 10. This team has also has won 21 national invention patents and the first prize of Science and Technology in Heilongjiang Province (in the category of nature). Meanwhile, the team attaches great importance to the cultivation of students. Over the same period, there is an undergraduate in this research team who has won the China Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award, two masters the Outstanding Master’s Dissertation in Heilongjiang Province, a doctoral student the nomination award of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation, 2 people the Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in HIT, and 2 people the Young Doctoral Student of Distinction by the Ministry of Education. The research team has ranked in the “Top Ten Teams” among graduates and Yan Chunshaung has won the title of “Top Ten Talents” among graduates.
