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Large-scale current collectors for regulating heat transfer and enhancing battery safety

Nature Chemical Engineering volume 1, pages 542–551 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Thermal runaway, a major battery safety issue, is triggered when the local temperature exceeds a threshold value resulting from slower heat dissipation relative to heat generation inside the cell. However, improving internal heat transfer is challenged by the low thermal conductivity of metal current collectors (CCs) and challenges in manufacturing nonmetal CC foils at large scales. Here we report a rapid temperature-responsive nonmetallic CC that can substitute benchmark Al and Cu foils to enhance battery safety. The nonmetallic CC was fabricated through a continuous thermal pressing process to afford a highly oriented Gr foil on a hundred-meter scale. This Gr foil demonstrates a high thermal conductivity of 1,400.8 W m−1 K−1, about one order of magnitude higher than those of Al and Cu foils. Importantly, LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2||graphite cells integrated with these temperature-responsive foils show faster heat dissipation, eliminating the local heat concentration and circumventing the fast exothermic aluminothermic and hydrogen-evolution reactions, which are critical factors causing the thermal failure propagation of lithium-ion battery packs.

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Fig. 1: Fabrication of the large-area Gr foil.
Fig. 2: Foil physical characterization.
Fig. 3: Electrochemical and thermal performance.
Fig. 4: Safety performance and mechanism analysis of pouch cells during thermal runaway.

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All data are available in the main text or Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22279097, 52127816 and 52172217), Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2021A1515010144) and Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20210324120400002), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0715000), ‘Coated current collector for battery performance improvement’ (CONTACT, Ref/10041084), ‘Thin and lightweight current collector for lithium-ion battery’ (CONDUCTOR, Ref/10047927). The authors acknowledge K. Liu and M. Wu for providing single-crystal graphite. The authors thank W. Liu for providing HOPG and XRD ϕ-scan measurements. The authors acknowledge B. Gao and S. Li for assistance with the assembly of large cells and S. Margadonna for helpful data discussions.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Lun Li, Jinlong Yang, Rui Tan, Wei Shu.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Engineering Research Center of RF-Microwave Technology and Application, School of Physics and Mechanics, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

    Lun Li, Huazhang Zhang, Xin Zhao & Daping He

  2. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China

    Lun Li, Wei Shu, Zixin Zhang, Yu Zhao, Xingchuan Li, Zongkui Kou, Yong Xiao, Francis Verpoort, Liqiang Mai & Daping He

  3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials Service Safety, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Jinlong Yang & Wei Shu

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Swansea University, Swansea, UK

    Rui Tan

  5. Warwick Electrochemical Engineering Group, WMG, Energy Innovation Centre, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK

    Rui Tan & CheeTong John Low

  6. School of Vehicle and Mobility, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Cheng Li, Yajun Zhang & Hewu Wang

Authors
  1. Lun Li
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Contributions

L.L., J.Y., R.T., L.M. and D.H. conceived and directed the project. L.L. and W.S. carried out the syntheses, characterizations and battery testing. L.L. wrote the original draft. R.T., X.L. and Z.Z. assisted in visualizing the manufacturing process and working principles. C.L., Y.Z. and H.W. helped perform the thermal runaway tests and analyze the data. Y.Z. and Y. X. guided the welding of CCs with metal tabs. R.T., C.T.J.L. and H.Z. contributed to theory and model development. L.L., J.Y., R.T, X.Z., Z.K., F.V., L.M. and D.H. revised the manuscript and suggested experiments. All authors participated in the discussion of the results, commented on the implications and fully approved the content of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jinlong Yang, Liqiang Mai or Daping He.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Peter Bøggild, Donal Finegan and the other, anonymous, reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Fabrication of the large-area Gr using GO+3wt.% PEA precursor.

a, Coating. b, Drying. c, Dried precursor film. d, Cutting. e, Annealing, f, Rolling compression.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Characterization of the oriented structure of Gr foils.

SAXS patterns and corresponding azimuthal angle plots of a, b, GO film. c, d, pristine Gr film without addition of PEA and e, f, Gr foil with addition of PEA.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 3 Electrochemical performance of high-capacity pouch cells.

a, b, Photograph of 5 and 10 Ah pouch cell with Gr CCs. c, Charge-discharge curves of 10 Ah pouch cell with Gr||Gr foils at 0.05 C. d, Fast charging and discharging profiles at 2 C. e, Corresponding temperature distributions at different stages from II to IX. f, Nail penetration test on 5 Ah Gr||Gr cell.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 4 The electrochemical activity of Gr CCs after cycling in Gr||Gr pouch cells.

a, Photograph of the unfolded electrode disassembled from a pouch cell after cycling. b, XRD patterns of Gr foil CCs before and after cycling. c, Cross-sectional SEM image of the anode layer after cycling at 0.2 C. d, Corresponding cross-sectional SEM image of Gr foil CC. e, The cross-sectional SEM image of the anode layer before cycling. f, The original cross-sectional SEM image of Gr foil before cycling.

Source data

Extended Data Fig. 5 Physical characterization and practical application of 10 µm-thick Gr foil.

a, Top-view and b, cross-sectional SEM images of 10 µm-thick Gr foil. c, Stress-strain curves of 10 µm-thick Gr foil. d, f, h, SAXS patterns and corresponding azimuthal angle plots of Gr foils with thickness of (d) 10, (f) 17, and (h) 40 µm. e, g, i, WAXS patterns and corresponding azimuthal angle plots of Gr foils with thickness of (e) 10 µm, (g) 17 µm, and (i) 40 µm. j-m, Application of 10 µm-thick Gr foil as CC for (j) adapting in coating machine (Cu foil for traction), (k) electrode coating, (l) electrode drying, and (m) subsequent calendaring process.

Source data

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–47, Tables 1–9, Notes 1–3 and References 1–42.

Supplementary Video 1

Continuous and large-scale coating process.

Supplementary Video 2

Automated rolling process.

Supplementary Video 3

Portable charger charging a cell phone.

Supplementary Video 4

Nail penetration of 2 Ah Al–Cu cell.

Supplementary Video 5

Nail penetration of 2 Ah Gr–Gr cell.

Supplementary Video 6

Nail penetration of 5 Ah Gr–Gr cell.

Source data

Source Data Fig. 1

Statistical source data.

Source Data Fig. 2

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Source Data Fig. 3

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Source Data Fig. 4

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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 2

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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 3

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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 4

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Source Data Extended Data Fig. 5

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Li, L., Yang, J., Tan, R. et al. Large-scale current collectors for regulating heat transfer and enhancing battery safety. Nat Chem Eng 1, 542–551 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-024-00103-8

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