Lithium batteries have revolutionized mobile electronic devices and are used in new energy devices, but further improvements in life and power will require new technologies. One option is lithium metal batteries, which have longer battery life and faster charging speeds, but there are problems with this technology. Lithium deposits, called dendrites, tend to grow on the anode and can form a short circuit, causing battery failure, fire or explosion.

At present, researchers from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China High Pressure Science and Technology Research Center have designed a membrane separator based on carbon allotropes. It is called graphene, which acts as a lithium ion filter to prevent dendritic growth [Shangetal. Material.10(2018) 191-199].

Litij metalne baterije slične su konceptu litij baterijama, ali se oslanjaju na litijeve metalne anode. Tijekom procesa pražnjenja, litijeva anoda opskrbljuje elektrone katodi kroz vanjski krug. Međutim, prilikom punjenja, litij se taloži na anodi. U tom procesu će se formirati neželjeni dendriti.

Ovo je funkcija dijafragme. Membranski separator izrađen od ultra tankog (10nm) grafitnog diacetilena (dvodimenzionalni heksagonalni monosloj atoma ugljika povezan lancima jantarne kiseline) ima važnu praktičnu vrijednost. Grafitni diacetilen ne samo da ima elastičnost i žilavost, već njegova kemijska struktura također tvori ujednačenu mrežu pora, dopuštajući da prođe samo jedan litijev ion. Time se regulira kretanje iona kroz membranu, što rezultira vrlo ujednačenom difuzijom iona. Važno je da ova karakteristika učinkovito inhibira rast litijevih dendrita.

Li Yuliang of the Institute of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who led the research, explained that lithium dendrites can stabilize the solid electrolyte interface, thereby extending the life of the device and the Coulomb power. Prevent tree-shaped short circuit and reach the battery safely.

Researchers believe that graphene-diethyne films can overcome some of the thorny problems faced by lithium batteries and other alkaline metal batteries.

Li said that graphitic diacetylene is a getter material with hyper-conjugated structure, inherent band gap, natural macroporous structure and semiconductor function. It provides a huge prospect for solving major scientific problems in this field.

Dvodimenzionalni podaci također su vrlo jednostavni, a lako ih je dobiti u općim laboratorijskim uvjetima.

Istraživači su rekli novinarima da, iako je potrebno učiniti više kako bi se poboljšala kvaliteta grafitno-diacetilenskih filmova u velikim razmjerima, vjerujemo da grafit-diacetilen može imati ozbiljan utjecaj na sigurnost litijevih baterija.