Recently, Prof. Jiang Jianzhong, Dean of the School of Advanced Materials and New Energy, and Assistant Researcher Huang Chenghao from Fuyao University of Science and Technology have published academic research entitled Hierarchical Structured RGO@EGaIn Composites as Advanced Self Healing Anode for Room Temperature Liquid Metal Battery in the internationally renowned journal Advanced Materials. Targeting the root cause of capacity fading of liquid metal electrodes during long-term cycling, they developed a facile graphene self-assembly coating method and successfully prepared a series of liquid metal particle composites with hierarchical structures.

This study employs a simple approach to fabricate liquid metal particle composites with hierarchical architectures. The hierarchical composites exhibit five key advantages:

1. The reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in the hierarchical structure enhances the electrical conductivity of the composite, facilitating fast migration of ions and electrons in electrochemical reactions.

2. The three-dimensional network structure shortens the Li⁺ transport distance during electrochemical reactions and enlarges the electrode–electrolyte contact interface, effectively improving the electrochemical performance of lithium-ion batteries.

3. The inherent flexibility of the RGO shell suppresses volume expansion and accommodates irregular deformation of core–shell structured liquid metal particles (LMPs) during lithiation/delithiation, preventing fracture of the RGO shell and the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film during long-term cycling.

4. The interlayer network structure of RGO acts as a buffer and protective layer, further mitigating the volume expansion of LMPs.

5. The intrinsically flexible RGO shell and interlayer RGO reinforce the structural stability of the electrode.

In addition, in-situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) nanobattery experiments were conducted to real-time monitor the morphological and phase evolution of liquid metal particles during lithiation/delithiation.

This work presents a simple and effective strategy for preparing high-performance room-temperature liquid metal electrodes, promoting the commercial application of liquid metal batteries.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202419060