SHIELD - Self-Healing Electrode for energy storage Devices

碳排放增加导致的气候危机是全球关注的主要问题之一。开发未开发的可再生能源（风能、太阳能等）是清洁能源的有效解决方案；然而，它们的间歇性仍然是一个挑战。储能装置可以有效地捕获并根据供需重新分配循环能源。锂离子电池以其优异的电化学性能成为主流的存储设备。lib还可用于便携式电子设备、电动工具、电动汽车等。然而，锂电池有限的循环寿命、容量衰减和锂资源的低可用性构成了重大挑战。钠离子电池（sib）等替代化学物质因其成本效益（广泛可用的资源）而具有吸引力。然而，它们仍然使用硬碳（< 300 mAh g-1）作为阳极材料，限制了它们的能量密度。替代高容量阳极（> 800 mAh g-1）的开发受到阻碍，因为它们由于插入大尺寸的钠离子而导致体积膨胀，这在电池循环时导致裂纹形成、粉末状和电池失效。因此，该项目（SHIELD）旨在通过加入自修复聚合物来开发具有高容量阳极的无裂纹电极，该聚合物可以启动自修复机制，模拟生物伤口愈合。与传统电极不同，这种自愈聚合物粘合剂在循环过程中通过交联氢键完全修复破裂后的裂缝。由此产生的智能和更厚的电极（用于两种钠离子电池）具有更好的机械完整性，可以提供长期循环性能，有利于支持可再生能源的电池技术的广泛适用性。

The climate crisis caused by increased carbon emissions is one of the major concerns globally. The exploitation of untapped renewable energy resources (wind, solar power, etc.) is an effective solution for clean energy; however, their intermittent nature remains a challenge. Energy storage devices can efficiently capture and redistribute recurrent energy as per supply and demand. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are mainstream storage devices due to their excellent electrochemical performances. LIBs also find applications in portable electronic devices, power tools, electric vehicles, etc. However, LIBs' limited cycle life, capacity decay, and low availability of lithium resources pose significant challenges. Alternative chemistries like sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are appealing due to their cost effectiveness (widely available resources). However, they still use hard carbon (< 300 mAh g-1) as anode material, limiting their energy densities. The exploitation of alternative high-capacity anodes (> 800 mAh g-1) is hindered by their huge volume expansion due to the insertion of large size sodium-ions, which on battery cycling, result in crack formation, pulverization, and battery failure. Therefore, this project (SHIELD) aims to develop crack-free electrodes with high-capacity anodes by incorporating self-healing polymers that initiate a self-healing mechanism, mimicking biological wound healing. Unlike conventional electrodes, the self-healing polymer binder mends the cracks during cycling by fully restoring them after rupture via cross-linked hydrogen bonds. The resultant smart and thicker electrodes (for both Na ion batteries) with improved mechanical integrity can deliver long-term cycling performances favouring the wide applicability of battery technologies supporting renewables.