Mechanistic insights into the reversible lithium storage in an open porous carbon via metal cluster formation in all solid-state batteries

Porous carbons are promising anode materials for next generation lithium batteries due to their large lithium storage capacities. However, their highsloping capacity during lithiation and delithiation as well as capacity fading due to intense formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) limit their gravimetric and volumetric energy densities. Herein we compare a microporous carbide derived carbon material (MPC) as promising future anode for all solid state batteries with a commercial high performance hard carbon anode. The MPC obtains high and reversible lithiation capacities of 1000 mAh g 1 carbon in half cells exhibiting an extended plateau region near 0 V vs. Li/Liþ preferable for full cell application. The well defined microporosity of the MPC with a specific surface area of >1500 m2 g 1 combines well with the argyrodite type electrolyte (Li6PS5Cl) suppressing extensive SEI formation to deliver high coulombic efficiencies. Preliminary full cell measurements vs. nickel rich NMC cathodes (LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2) provide a considerably improved average potential of 3.76 V leading to a projected energy density as high as 449 Wh kg 1 and reversible cycling for more than 60 cycles. 7Li Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy was combined with ex situ Small Angle X ray Scattering to elucidate the storage mechanism of lithium inside the carbon matrix. The formation of extended quasi metallic lithium clusters after electrochemical lithiation was revealed

Integration of Fluorescent Functionality into Pressure Amplifying Metal-Organic Frameworks

The flexibility of soft porous crystals, i.e., their ability to respond to external stimuli with structural changes, is one of the most fascinating features of metal-organic frameworks. In addition to breathing and swelling phenomena of flexible MOFs, negative gas adsorption and pressure amplification is one of the more recent discoveries in this field, initially observed in the cubic DUT-49 framework. In recent years the structural contraction was monitored by physisorption, X‑ray diffraction, NMR and EPR techniques, providing only limited information about the electronic structure of the ligand. In this work we designed a new ligand with a fluorescent core in the linker backbone and synthesized three new MOFs, isoreticular to DUT-49, denoted as DUT‑140(M) (M - Cu, Co, Zn) crystalizing in space group. DUT‑140(Cu) can be desolvated and is highly porous with an accessible apparent surface area of 4870 m2g-1 and a pore volume of 2.59 cm3g-1. Furthermore, it shows flexibility and NGA upon adsorption of subcritical gases. DUT-140(Zn), synthesized using post-synthetic metal exchange, could only be studied with guests in the pores. In addition to the investigation of the adsorption behavior of DUT-140(Cu) spectroscopic and computational methods were used to study the light absorption properties

Tunable Flexibility and Porosity of the Metal-Organic Framework DUT-49 Through Post-Synthetic Metal Exchange

As a prominent and representative example of flexible metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), DUT-49(Cu) has gained attention due to the unique phenomenon of Negative Gas Adsorption (NGA); originating from an unprecedented struc-tural contraction during the gas adsorption. Herein, post-synthetic metal exchange is demonstrated to afford DUT-49 frameworks with a wide variety of metal cations, e.g. Mn2+, Fe2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Cd2+. The single-crystal-to-single-crystal conversion allowed to characterize the new MOFs by single crystal X-ray diffraction, indicating identical struc-ture and topology, as that of previously explored DUT-49(Cu) framework. This approach is proven successful in achieving Mn-Mn and Cd-Cd dimers, which are rare examples of M-M paddle-wheel SBUs. The relative stability and flexibility of the resulted frameworks are observed to be highly sensitive to the metal ion of the framework, following the trends predicted by Irving-Williams series. DUT-49(Ni) was recognized as a second material from DUT-49 series showing adsorption-induced transitions. A sequential increase in framework flexibility from rigid to flexible and from flexible to NGA has been achieved through selective incorporation of metal centers into the structure. Finally, hetero-metallic structures are formed by selective and controlled exchange of metal ions to finely tune the flexibility and NGA phenomenon of the framework.<br /

Unraveling the Guest-Induced Switchability in the Metal-Organic Framework DUT-13(Zn)

A guest-induced flexibility in the framework DUT-13 was investigated in situ to analyze the breathing mechanism upon physisorption of nitrogen (77 K) and n-butane (273 K). The crystal structure of cp phase, solved from PXRD data using the computation-assisted semiempirical approach, shows two times smaller pore volume, compared to the op phase, which is consistent with the corresponding isotherms. The contraction mechanism is mainly based on the conformational isomerism of the benztb4- linker, which transforms from a staggered conformation in op phase to a more eclipsed in cp phase, leading to the contraction of the larger pore. A nearly complete op → cp → op transition was observed in the case of n-butane adsorption at 273 K, while in case of weakly interacting nitrogen molecules a portion of the sample remains in the op phase in the entire pressure range. Apparently, in case of DUT-13 the contraction is crystallite size-dependent, similarly as in a number of other switchable MOFs, which should be investigated more in detail in the future. Methane adsorption at varying temperatures showed a wide hysteresis at the temperatures between 111 K and 140 K. The hysteresis width decreases until it disappears completely at 170 K leading to a reversible isotherm, typical for rigid frameworks. The fact that breathing is observed in a broader temperature range in comparison to DUT‑49 demonstrates that thermodynamics and kinetics favour the DUT-13 contraction. Linker and hinges in DUT-13 are not stiff enough to support the metastable states required for NGA

High-Capacity Reversible Lithium Storage in Defined Microporous Carbon Framework for All Solid-State Lithium Batteries

For decades graphite has been used as the anode material of choice for lithium batteries since porous carbons were believed to be inappropriate because of their high potential slope during lithiation as well as capacity losses due to intense formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). However, in this work we demonstrate a microporous carbide-derived carbon material (HCmicro) to provide a high-capacity anode framework for lithium storage in all solid-state batteries. Half-cell measurements of HCmicro exhibit exceptionally high and reversible lithiation capacities of 1000 mAh g-1carbon utilizing an extremely long voltage plateau near 0 V vs. Li/Li+. The defined microporosity of the HCmicro combined well with the argyrodite-type electrolyte (Li6PS5Cl) suppressing extensive SEI formation to deliver high coulombic efficiencies. Preliminary full-cell measurements vs. NMC-cathodes (LiNi0.9Co0.05Mn0.05O2) obtained a considerably improved average potential of 3.76 V leading to a projected energy density as high as 443 Wh kg-1. 7Li Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy was combined with ex-situ Small Angle X-ray Scattering and further electrochemical investigations to elucidate the storage mechanism of lithium inside the carbon matrix revealing the formation of extended quasi-metallic lithium clusters