Boron is a promising anode candidate for lithium ion battery (LIB).1 However, it was shown previously that boron is inactive for LIB at room temperature. Therefore, limited studies have been done in boron for its application in LIB at room temperature.2 Here, for the first time, we report boron anode material, which exhibits a reversible capacity of 170 mAh g-1 at a low current rate at room temperature. In order to understand morphologic and structural evolution in boron electrode during cycling, we constructed a miniature battery containing boron as the working electrode, LiO2 as the solid electrolyte and Li metal as the counter electrode under in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This enables real-time observation of boron reacting with Li. Our in situ TEM study indicates that there is minimum volume change in boron electrode during cycling, which leads to good cycling stability.

Nano-rod boron anode materials for lithium ion batteries

251st National Meeting (2016)

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