Liquid Gallium Electrode Confined in Porous Carbon Matrix as Anode for Lithium Secondary Batteries

Abstract

A liquid gallium electrode confined in a porous carbon matrix was prepared by vaporization and pyrolysis of Ga(III)- phthalocyanine chloride on a nanosized Ga2O3 powder surface, which was followed by carbothermal reduction of Ga2O3 by a carbon matrix. When the electrode was charge/discharge cycled, the liquid Ga component was restored to its original liquid state at the final stage of delithiation, such that any electrode failure modes, for instance, crack formation and electric disconnection that are caused by severe volume change associated with multistage, solid-state LixGa (0 < x ≤ 2) phase transitions, are self-healed by cohesion between liquid Ga droplets.