Yuqi Li

All Publications

• Epitaxial Electrodeposition of Zinc on Different Single Crystal Copper Substrates for High Performance Aqueous Batteries. Nano letters Xiao, X., Greenburg, L. C., Li, Y., Yang, M., Tzeng, Y. K., Sui, C., Peng, Y., Wu, Y., Zhang, Z., Gao, X., Xu, R., Ye, Y., Zhang, P., Yang, Y., Vailionis, A., Hsu, P. C., Qin, J., Cui, Y. 2025

  Abstract

  The aqueous zinc metal battery holds great potential for large-scale energy storage due to its safety, low cost, and high theoretical capacity. However, challenges such as corrosion and dendritic growth necessitate controlled zinc deposition. This study employs epitaxy to achieve large-area, dense, and ultraflat zinc plating on textured copper foil. High-quality copper foils with Cu(100), Cu(110), and Cu(111) facets were prepared and systematically compared. The results show that Cu(111) is the most favorable for zinc deposition, offering the lowest nucleation overpotential, diffusion energy, and interfacial energy with a Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 99.93%. The study sets a record for flat-zinc areal loading at 20 mAh/cm2. These findings provide some clarity on the best-performing copper and zinc crystalline facets, with Cu(111)/Zn(0002) ranking the highest. Using a MnO2-Zn full cell model, the research achieved an exceptional cycle life of over 800 cycles in a cathode-anode-free battery configuration.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c04535

  View details for PubMedID 39835735

• Battery lifetime prediction across diverse ageing conditions with inter-cell deep learning NATURE MACHINE INTELLIGENCE Zhang, H., Li, Y., Zheng, S., Lu, Z., Gui, X., Xu, W., Bian, J. 2025

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s42256-024-00972-x

  View details for Web of Science ID 001396148200001

• Coupling Anionic Oxygen Redox with Selenium for Stable High-Voltage Sodium Layered Oxide Cathodes ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS Xue, Z., Bothra, N., Meng, D., Feng, G., Li, Y., Cui, T., Hao, H., Lee, S., Liu, Y., Bajdich, M., Nanda, J., Zheng, X. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1002/adfm.202417758

  View details for Web of Science ID 001383179500001

• Seawater alkalization via an energy-efficient electrochemical process for CO2 capture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Guan, X., Zhang, G., Li, J., Kim, S. C., Feng, G., Li, Y., Cui, T., Brest, A., Cui, Y. 2024; 121 (45): e2410841121

  Abstract

  Electrochemical pH-swing strategies offer a promising avenue for cost-effective and energy-efficient carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, surpassing the traditional thermally activated processes and humidity-sensitive techniques. The concept of elevating seawater's alkalinity for scalable CO2 capture without introducing additional chemical as reactant is particularly intriguing due to its minimal environmental impact. However, current commercial plants like chlor-alkali process or water electrolysis demand high thermodynamic voltages of 2.2 V and 1.23 V, respectively, for the production of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) from seawater. These high voltages are attributed to the asymmetric electrochemical reactions, where two completely different reactions take place at the anode and cathode. Here, we developed a symmetric electrochemical system for seawater alkalization based on a highly reversible and identical reaction taking place at the anode and cathode. We utilize hydrogen evolution reaction at the cathode, where the generated hydrogen is looped to the anode for hydrogen oxidation reaction. Theoretical calculations indicate an impressively low energy requirement ranging from 0.07 to 0.53 kWh/kg NaOH for established pH differences of 1.7 to 13.4. Experimentally, we achieved the alkalization with an energy consumption of 0.63 kWh/kg NaOH, which is only 38% of the theoretical energy requirements of the chlor-alkali process (1.64 kWh/kg NaOH). Further tests demonstrated the system's potential of enduring high current densities (~20 mA/cm2) and operating stability over an extended period (>110 h), showing its potential for future applications. Notably, the CO2 adsorption tests performed with alkalized seawater exhibited remarkably improved CO2 capture dictated by the production of hydroxide compared to the pristine seawater.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2410841121

  View details for PubMedID 39467125

• Spontaneous lithium extraction and enrichment from brine with net energy output driven by counter-ion gradients NATURE WATER Zhang, G., Li, Y., Guan, X., Hu, G., Su, H., Xu, X., Feng, G., Shuchi, S., Kim, S., Zhou, J., Xu, R., Xiao, X., Wu, A., Cui, Y. 2024; 2 (11): 1091-1101

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s44221-024-00326-2

  View details for Web of Science ID 001390107600011

• 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

• Precision anode vacancy engineering for long-lasting and fast-charging Na-Ion batteries ENERGY STORAGE MATERIALS Fu, X., Yang, M., Zhai, M., Zhang, C., Niu, H., Li, Y. 2024; 70

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ensm.2024.103450

  View details for Web of Science ID 001241445400001

• Kinetics Manipulation for Improved Solid Electrolyte Interphase and Reversible Na Storage ACS ENERGY LETTERS Tang, X., Xie, F., Lu, Y., Mao, H., Chen, Z., Pan, H., Weng, S., Yang, Y., Li, X., Guo, Z., Guo, Q., Ding, F., Hou, X., Li, Y., Wang, X., Titirici, M., Chen, L., Pan, Y., Hu, Y. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acsenergylett.4c00041

  View details for Web of Science ID 001176754100001

• Origin of fast charging in hard carbon anodes (vol <bold>9</bold> pg 134-142,2024) NATURE ENERGY Li, Y., Vasileiadis, A., Zhou, Q., Lu, Y., Meng, Q., Li, Y., Ombrini, P., Zhao, J., Chen, Z., Niu, Y., Qi, X., Xie, F., van der Jagt, R., Ganapathy, S., Titirici, M., Li, H., Chen, L., Wagemaker, M., Hu, Y. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41560-024-01459-0

  View details for Web of Science ID 001169035300001

• Origin of fast charging in hard carbon anodes NATURE ENERGY Li, Y., Vasileiadis, A., Zhou, Q., Lu, Y., Meng, Q., Li, Y., Ombrini, P., Zhao, J., Chen, Z., Niu, Y., Qi, X., Xie, F., van der Jagt, R., Ganapathy, S., Titirici, M., Li, H., Chen, L., Wagemaker, M., Hu, Y. 2024

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41560-023-01414-5

  View details for Web of Science ID 001135841200001