Chenwei Liu

All Publications

• NiSO4-Driven In Situ Alloy Formation To Unlock Highly Reversible Iron Electrochemistry in Aqueous Batteries. Journal of the American Chemical Society Feng, G., Liu, Z., Li, J., Li, Y., Guan, X., Ravi, A., Liu, C., Chi, X., Ai, H., Zheng, X., Cui, Y. 2026

  Abstract

  Grid-scale stationary energy storage requires technologies that are both safe and economically viable. Iron (Fe) metal-based aqueous batteries offer an attractive option owing to the abundance, low cost, and environmental benignity of iron, but their development has been hampered by uncontrolled hydrogen evolution and poor reversibility of iron plating and stripping. Here, we report using nickel sulfate (NiSO4) as an electrolyte additive to induce the in situ formation of a FeNi3 alloy interphase during early cycling. This alloy lowers the Fe nucleation barrier and promotes uniform iron deposition. Moreover, dynamic codeposition and stripping of Ni with Fe sustains fast reaction kinetics and stabilizes the alloy interphase during long-term cycling. As a result, Fe||Fe symmetric cells achieve over 3000 h of stable cycling, nearly an order of magnitude improvement over the baseline electrolyte. Fe||Cu cells with NiSO4 additives enable stable long-term cycling with a high average Coulombic efficiency (CE) of ∼99.4%, while the control electrolyte rapidly fails with an average CE of 82.9%. These findings demonstrate that functional electrolyte additives and the controlled alloying interphase provide a viable pathway to high-performance, cost-effective iron metal-based aqueous batteries for large-scale energy storage.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/jacs.5c15954

  View details for PubMedID 41593008

• Crowding Agent Stabilizes Aqueous Electrolyte for Reversible Iron Metal Anode ACS ENERGY LETTERS Greenburg, L. C., Holoubek, J., Zhang, P., Ai, H., Zhang, E., Liu, C., Feng, G., Cui, Y. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acsenergylett.4c03268

  View details for Web of Science ID 001412253100001

• In situ formation of liquid crystal interphase in electrolytes with soft templating effects for aqueous dual-electrode-free batteries NATURE ENERGY Li, Y., Zheng, X., Carlson, E. Z., Xiao, X., Chi, X., Greenburg, L. C., Zhang, G., Zhang, E., Liu, C., Yang, Y., Kim, M., Feng, G., Zhang, P., Su, H., Guan, X., Zhou, J., Wu, Y., Xue, Z., Li, W., Bajdich, M., Cui, Y. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41560-024-01638-z

  View details for Web of Science ID 001317361000002

• Theoretical Calculation Guided Design of Single-Atom Catalysts toward Fast Kinetic and Long-Life Li-S Batteries. Nano letters Zhou, G. n., Zhao, S. n., Wang, T. n., Yang, S. Z., Johannessen, B. n., Chen, H. n., Liu, C. n., Ye, Y. n., Wu, Y. n., Peng, Y. n., Liu, C. n., Jiang, S. P., Zhang, Q. n., Cui, Y. n. 2020

  Abstract

  Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising next-generation energy storage technologies due to their high theoretical energy density, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, low conductivity of sulfur species, dissolution of polysulfides, poor conversion from sulfur reduction, and lithium sulfide (Li2S) oxidation reactions during discharge-charge processes hinder their practical applications. Herein, under the guidance of density functional theory calculations, we have successfully synthesized large-scale single atom vanadium catalysts seeded on graphene to achieve high sulfur content (80 wt % sulfur), fast kinetic (a capacity of 645 mAh g-1 at 3 C rate), and long-life Li-S batteries. Both forward (sulfur reduction) and reverse reactions (Li2S oxidation) are significantly improved by the single atom catalysts. This finding is confirmed by experimental results and consistent with theoretical calculations. The ability of single metal atoms to effectively trap the dissolved lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and catalytically convert the LiPSs/Li2S during cycling significantly improved sulfur utilization, rate capability, and cycling life. Our work demonstrates an efficient design pathway for single atom catalysts and provides solutions for the development of high energy/power density Li-S batteries.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b04719

  View details for PubMedID 31887051

• Supercooled liquid sulfur maintained in three-dimensional current collector for high-performance Li-S batteries. Science advances Zhou, G. n., Yang, A. n., Gao, G. n., Yu, X. n., Xu, J. n., Liu, C. n., Ye, Y. n., Pei, A. n., Wu, Y. n., Peng, Y. n., Li, Y. n., Liang, Z. n., Liu, K. n., Wang, L. W., Cui, Y. n. 2020; 6 (21): eaay5098

  Abstract

  In lithium-sulfur (Li-S) chemistry, the electrically/ionically insulating nature of sulfur and Li2S leads to sluggish electron/ion transfer kinetics for sulfur species conversion. Sulfur and Li2S are recognized as solid at room temperature, and solid-liquid phase transitions are the limiting steps in Li-S batteries. Here, we visualize the distinct sulfur growth behaviors on Al, carbon, Ni current collectors and demonstrate that (i) liquid sulfur generated on Ni provides higher reversible capacity, faster kinetics, and better cycling life compared to solid sulfur; and (ii) Ni facilitates the phase transition (e.g., Li2S decomposition). Accordingly, light-weight, 3D Ni-based current collector is designed to control the deposition and catalytic conversion of sulfur species toward high-performance Li-S batteries. This work provides insights on the critical role of the current collector in determining the physical state of sulfur and elucidates the correlation between sulfur state and battery performance, which will advance electrode designs in high-energy Li-S batteries.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aay5098

  View details for PubMedID 32494732

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC7244266