New insights into how graphite gets charged with lithium

INAC simulation experts have discovered new insights into a 40-year-old mystery: how graphite, an attractive anode material for lithium-ion batteries, gets charged with lithium.
Their experiments demonstrated that lithium is organized in a periodic manner, intercalated in the space between the graphite planes, occupying one out of three galleries for a 33% charge and one out of every two galleries for a 50% charge—but the mechanisms of the staging transition remain a mystery.
The researchers designed an atomic-scale model in which the lithium is organized in either full or empty bands instead of occupying all of each gallery in “islands.” A simulation showed that the model, which explains the kinetics of the staging transition, is plausible in terms of thermodynamic stability. The research was published in Applied Physics Letters.

Contact: damien.caliste@cea.fr

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