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Fused molecules could serve as building blocks for safer lithium-ion batteries

By fusing together a pair of contorted molecular structures, Cornell researchers have created a porous crystal that can uptake lithium-ion electrolytes and transport them smoothly via one-dimensional nanochannels—a design that could lead to safer solid-state lithium-ion batteries.

The team's paper, "Supramolecular Assembly of Fused Macrocycle-Cage Molecules for Fast Lithium-Ion Transport," is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The lead author is Yuzhe Wang.

The project was led by Yu Zhong, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Cornell Engineering and the paper's senior author, whose lab specializes in synthesizing soft and nanoscale materials that can advance energy storage and sustainability technologies.

Zhong had just joined Cornell's faculty two years ago when he was contacted by Wang, an undergraduate transfer student beginning his junior year, who was enthusiastic about taking on a research project.

At the top of Zhong's list of potential topics was finding a way to make a safer lithium-ion battery. In conventional lithium-ion batteries, the ions are shuttled along via liquid electrolytes. But liquid electrolytes can form spiky dendrites between the battery's anode and cathode, which short out the battery, or in rare cases, explode.