Professor Andy Xueliang Sun's Advanced Materials for Clean Energy Group Professor Andy Xueliang Sun's Advanced Materials for Clean Energy Group Western University Engineering Logo

Metal Air Batteries

Alkali metal-oxygen (Li-O2 and Na-O2) batteries have attracted a great deal of attention recently due to their high theoretical energy densities, which is comparable to gasoline, making them attractive candidates for use in electrical vehicles. However, the limited cycling life and low energy efficiency (high charging overpotential) of these cells hinder their commercialization. Li-O2 battery system has been extensively studied in this regard. On the other side, Na-O2 batteries show a number of attractive properties such as low charging overpotential and high round-trip energy efficiency. Understanding the chemistry behind Na-O2 cells is critical towards enhancing their performance and advancing their development.

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We design and synthesize nanostructured air electrodes to improve the efficiency and cycle life of alkali metal-O2 batteries. We also study the reaction mechanisms governing the chemistry of these cells to understand the failure mechanism of the cells and employ that knowledge to enhance our future designs. Meanwhile, we work on protection mechanisms for metallic Li and Na anodes as well as solid-state electrolytes to further enhance the performance and safety of the future metal-O2 batteries.

Selected Publications

  1. S. Han; C. Cai; F. Yang; Q. Sun; Y. Zhu; H. Li; H. Wang, g; S-H, Yang; X. Sun; M. Gu, Interrogation of the True Reaction Mechanism in A Na-O2 Battery Using In-Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy. ACS nano. 2020. in press.
  2. Yadegari, X. Sun. Recent Advances on Sodium-Oxygen Batteries: A Chemical Perspective. Acc. Chem. Res. 2018, 51 (6), 1532-1540. 
  3. Banis, H. Yadegari, Q. Sun, T. Regier, T. Boyko, J. Zhou, Y. Yiu, R. Li, Y. Hu, T-K Sham, X. Sun. Revealing the charge/discharge mechanism of Na-O2 cells by in situ soft X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Energy Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 2073-2077.
  4. Yadegari, M. Norouzi Banis, X. Lin, A. Koo, R. Li, X. Sun*. Revealing the Chemical Mechanism of NaO2 Decomposition by In-situ Raman Imaging.Chem. Mater., 2018, 30, 5156-5160.
  5. Lin, Q. Sun, H. Yadegari, X. Yang, Y. Zhao, C. Wang, J. Liang, A. Koo, R. Li, X. Sun, On the Cycling Performance of Na-O2 Cells: Revealing the Impact of the Superoxide Crossover toward the Metallic Na Electrode. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018, 1801904.
  6. Sun, X. Lin, H. Yadegari, W. Xiao, Y. Zhao, K. Adair, R. Li and X. Sun, Aligning the Binder Effect on Sodium-Air Battery, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 1473-1484.
  7. Yadegari, M. Banis, A. Lushington, Q. Sun, R. Li, T.-K Sham and X. Sun,  A Bifunctional Solid State Catalyst with Enhanced Cycling Stability for Na and Li-O 2Cells: Revealing the Role of Solid State Catalysts. Energy Environ. Sci., (2017) 10, 286-295.
  8. Reeve, C. Franko, K, Harris, H. Yadegari, X. Sun, and G. Goward,  Detection of Electrochemical Products From the Sodium-Oxygen Cell with  23Na NMR Spectroscopy .  J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2017) 139(2), 595-598.
  9. Sun, J. Liu, X. Li, B. Wang, H. Yadegari, A. Lushington, M. Banis, Y. Zhao, W. Xiao, N. Chen, J. Wang, T.-K Sham, X. Sun, Atomic Layer Deposited Non-noble Metal Oxide Catalyst for Sodium-Air Batteries: Tuning the Morphologies and Compositions of Discharge Product, Adv. Funct. Mater., (2017), 1606662, 1-16.
  10. Yadegari; C. Franko; M. Banis; Q. Sun; R. Li; G. Goward; X.Sun, How to Control the Discharge Products in Na-O2Cells: Direct Evidence toward the Role of Functional Groups at the Air Electrode Surface. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. (2017) 8, 4794-4800.
  11. Yadegari, Q. Sun and X. Sun, Sodium-Oxygen Batteries: A Comparative Review from Chemical and Electrochemical Fundamentals to Future Perspective.Adv. Mater., 28 (2016) 7065-7093.
  12. Yadegari, M. Banis, B. Xiao, Q. Sun, X. Li, A. Lushington, B. Wang, R. Li, T.-K. Sham, X. Cui and X. Sun, Three-dimensional air electrode for sodium-oxygen battery: a mechanism study toward the cyclability of the cell. Chem. Mater., 27 (2015) 3040-3047.
  13. Sun, H. Yadegari, J. Liu, B. Xiao, X. Li, C. Langford, R. Li and X. Sun, Towards Sodium-"Air" Battery: Revealing the Critical Role of Humidity.J. Phys. Chem. C 119 24 (2014) 13433-13441
  14. Sun, H. Yadegari, M. N. Banis, J. Liu, B. Xiao, B. Wang, S. Lawes, R. Li and X. Sun, Self-stacked Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes and Long-life Air Electrode for Sodium-Air Batteries: Elucidating the Evolution of Discharge Product Morphology.Nano Energy 12 (2015) 698-708
  15. Yadegari, Y. Li, M. Banis, X. Li, B. Wang, Q. Sun, R. Li, T.-K. Sham, X. Cui, X. Sun, On Rechargeability and Reaction Kinetics of Sodium-Air Batteries. Energy Environ. Sci.7 (2014) 3747.
  16. Li, H. Yadegari, X. Li, M. Banis, R. Li, X. Sun, Superior Catalytic Activity of Nitrogen-doped Graphene Cathode for High Performance Sodium-Air Batteries. Chem. Commun.49 (2013) 11731-11733.