To meet surging demands for sustainable energy and clean environment, one critical requirement is to develop high-energy, safe and low-cost rechargeable batteries for electric transportation and grid energy storage. Mg rechargeable batteries (MgRBs) stand out as a promising candidate beyond lithium ion battery technologies due to high volumetric energy density, resource abundance, and the dendrite-free deposition behavior of Mg, which ensures safe operation. Many of the advantages of MgRBs originate from the divalent nature and small ionic size of Mg ions; however, these properties also render the cation too polarizing to diffuse easily in most ion-intercalation materials. We recently investigated interlayer expansion as a general and effective atomic-level lattice engineering approach to transform inactive layered intercalation hosts into efficient Mg storage materials without adverse side effects. We have combined theory, synthesis, electrochemical measurements, and kinetic analysis to improve Mg diffusion behavior in MoS<sub>2</sub>, which is a poor Mg transporting material in its pristine form. The expansion boosts Mg conductivity by two orders of magnitude, effectively enabling the otherwise barely active MoS<sub>2</sub> to approach its theoretical storage capacity as well as to achieve one of the highest rate capabilities among Mg-intercalation materials. An in-situ electrochemical activation method for performance improvement will also be discussed.

Rational nanostructure design for high performance Mg rechargeable batteries

251st National Meeting (2016)

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