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Kwun Nam Hui

Publications and source records attributed to Kwun Nam Hui.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Synergistic Interface Stability and High Room-Temperature Ionic Conductivity for Wide-Temperature All-Solid-State Batteries Based on Li6+xSixSb1-xS5I Electrolytes

Solid-state lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are increasingly recognized for their exceptional energy density and safety. However, their widespread adoption is challenged by persistent issues such as thermal and electrochemical instability, dendrite formation, and limited compatibility with high-voltage cathodes. Sulfide-based solid electrolytes (SEs), particularly iodide argyrodites, offer outstanding ionic conductivity and stability; however, their practical application is constrained by the formation of space-charge layers, slow ion transport, and susceptibility to dendrite penetration. To address these challenges, we synthesized a novel Li6.6Si0.6Sb0.4S5I argyrodite electrolyte via ball milling and heat treatment, achieving a remarkable room-temperature ionic conductivity of 9.9 mS cm^-1. The electrolyte was integrated with a LiNbO3-coated LiNi0.7Co0.1Mn0.2O2 cathode to form an all-solid-state battery, which demonstrated an initial discharge capacity of 171.2 mAh g^-1, retained 84.2% of its capacity after 200 cycles at 0.5C, and maintained stable cycling across a broad temperature range from -20 degrees C to 60 degrees C. Our study shows that tailored electrolyte composition and a composite cathode configuration significantly enhance cycling stability and improve interfacial protection. These findings highlight the potential of Si-doped antimony-type iodide argyrodites for next-generation high-performance all-solid-state batteries, offering durable operation under diverse thermal conditions.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

MgF$_2$ as an effective additive for improving ionic conductivity of ceramic solid electrolytes

As typical solid-state electrolytes (SSEs), {Na}$_{1+x}${Zr}$_2${Si}$_{x}${P}$_{3-x}${O}$_{12}$ NASICONs provide an ideal platform for solid-state batteries (SSBs) that display higher safety and accommodate higher energy densities. The critical points for achieving SSBs with higher efficiencies are to improve essentially the ionic conductivity and to reduce largely the interfacial resistance between SSEs and cathode materials, which would necessitate extremely high level of craftsmanship and high-pressure equipment. An alternative to higher-performance and lower-cost SSBs is additive manufacturing. Here, we report on an effective additive, MgF$_2$, which was used in synthesizing NASICONs, resulting in SSEs with fewer defects and higher performance. With an addition of mere 1 wt$\%$ MgF$_2$ additive, the total room-temperature ionic conductivity of the NASICON electrolyte reaches up to 2.03 mS cm$^{-1}$, improved up to $\sim$ 181.3$\%$, with an activation energy of 0.277 eV. Meanwhile, the stability of the Na plating/stripping behavior in symmetric cells increases from 236 to 654 h. We tried to reveal the microscopic origins of the higher ionic conductivity of MgF$_2$-doped NASICONs by comprehensive in-house characterizations. Our study discovers a novel MgF$_2$ additive and provides an efficient way to prepare higher-performance SSEs, making it possible to fabricate lower-cost SSBs in industries.

physics.app-ph↗

Single Atomic Fe anchored Porous Carbon with Rich Graphitic Nitrogen as Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction and Zn-Air Batteries

Zn-air battery (ZAB) has distinguished itself as new generation of energy storage device due to the high theoretical energy density and its performance relies on the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) performance of the cathode catalysts. Single atomic Fe anchored N-doped carbon (Fe-N-C) has emerged as a promising ORR electrocatalyst because of the maximum utilization of Fe atoms. However, to obtain high-rate and stable Fe-N-C remains challenging. A novel and facile approach to fabricate Fe-N-C catalyst (PC-Fe-50) with outstanding ORR performance superior to commercial platinum catalyst and iron phthalocyanine (FePc), is proposed here. When mixed with commercial OER catalyst (RuO2) and employed as the air cathode in ZAB, a high energy density of 809 W h kg-1, high power density of 128 mW cm-2, and stable cycling rechargeable performance are obtained. By means of density functional theory calculations, we revealed that the abundant N dopants (7.47 at%) in carbon play significant roles on FeNx moieties with two most common configurations (FeN4C10, denoted as D1; FeN4C12, denoted as D2). The binding energies of ORR intermediates on Fe center are adjusted. By comparing the activity of possible structures and FePc molecule, we find the realistic active sites in PC-Fe-50 catalyst may be the D2 combining the adjacent N atoms, instead of D1, the widely recognized active structure in reported Fe-N-C catalysts.

physics.app-ph↗

Homogeneous hierarchical NiMoO4@NiMoO4 nanostructure as a high-performance anode material for electrochemical energy storage

Here we report the extraordinary electrochemical energy storage capability of NiMoO4@NiMoO4 homogeneous hierarchical nanosheet-on-nanowire-arrays (SOWAs) synthesized on nickel substrate by a two-stage hydrothermal process. Comparatively speaking, the SOWAs electrode displays improved electrochemical performances than the bare NiMoO4 nanowire arrays. Such improvements can be ascribed to the characteristic homogeneous hierarchical structure which not only effectively increases the active surface areas for fast charge transfer, but also reduces the electrode resistance significantly by eliminating the potential barrier at the nanowire/nanosheet junction, which is usually an issue in other reported heterogeneous architectures. We further evaluate the performances of the SOWAs by constructing an asymmetric hybrid supercapacitor (ASC) with the SOWAs and activated carbon (AC). The optimized ASC shows excellent electrochemical performances with 47.2 Wh/kg in energy density at 1.38 kW/kg at 0-1.2 V. Moreover, the specific capacity retention can be as high as 91.4% after 4000 cycles, illustrating the remarkable cycling stability of the NiMoO4@NiMoO4//AC ASC device. Our results show that this unique NiMoO4@NiMoO4 SOWAs display great prospect for future energy storage applications

physics.app-ph↗