Dendrite-Free Lithium Deposition for Lithium Metal Anodes with Interconnected Microsphere Protection

Abstract

A lithium (Li) metal anode is required to achieve a high-energy-density battery, but because of an undesirable growth of Li dendrites, it still has safety and cyclability issues. In this study, we have developed a microsphere-protected (MSP) Li metal anode to suppress the growth of Li dendrites. Microspheres could guide Li ions to selective areas and pressurize dendrites during their growth. Interconnections between microspheres improved the pressurization. By using an MSP Li metal anode in a 200 mAh pouch-type Li/NCA full cell at 4.2 V, dendrite-free Li deposits with a density of 0.4 g/cm3, which is 3 times greater than that in the case of bare Li metal, were obtained after charging at 2.9 mAh/cm2. The MSP Li metal enhanced the cyclability to 190 cycles with a criterion of 90% capacity retention of the initial discharge capacity at a current density of 1.45 mA/cm2.

Engineering of lithium-metal anodes towards a safe and stable battery

“…Recently, a microsphere-protected Li metal anode was reported using polystyrene (PS) microspheres copolymerized by divinylbenzene (DVB). [199] As shown in Figure 25d, the regularly arrayed microspheres generated an oligomer coating in the selected areas, guiding a preferential Li + deposition on the composite anode. As a result, the full cell with such Li metal anode delivered an excellent cycling stability for 190 cycles with 90% retention of initial specific capacity.…”

“…As a result, this LAFN composite anode could maintain a superior stability in a symmetric cell even at an ultrahigh current density of 20 mA cm -2 for more than 100 cycles, greatly outperforming the conventional Li foil that failed rapidly in less than 20 cycles, giving this material a strong potential for practical high rate LMB applications. [199] As discussed above, the various porous carbon nanomaterials could serve as stable hosts for Li metal due to the chemical stability and variability of their structures. Moreover, some metallic substrates (e.g.…”

Low‐Weight 3D Al2O3 Network as an Artificial Layer to Stabilize Lithium Deposition

“…[21,23,36,37] Because the ALD process can be used to prepare conformal, high-quality, and nanometer-thick 2D films, [38,39] it has been attempted to realize the non-dendritic deposition of Li metal. [21,23,36,37] Because the ALD process can be used to prepare conformal, high-quality, and nanometer-thick 2D films, [38,39] it has been attempted to realize the non-dendritic deposition of Li metal.…”

“…From previousr esearch, the utilization of an artificial layer is a good way to suppress Li dendrite growth. [21,23,36,37] Because the ALD process can be used to prepare conformal, high-quality, and nanometer-thick 2D films, [38,39] it has been attempted to realize the non-dendritic deposition of Li metal. On the other hand, the conformal 2D films are usually rigid and compact, which can neither bear volumechanges during Li plating/stripping nor provide fast Li-ion transportation.…”

Effect of nanopatterning on mechanical properties of Lithium anode

“…While the physical mechanisms of this cycle life increase are not fully understood, it is possible that other modified surface geometries provide similarly improved lifetimes, so it is of interest to know the mechanical properties of lithium metal because of their effect on forming these surface features, particularly if modifications can be made to take advantage of this. One advantage to this method is that in many cases it can be combined with other methods of improving stability, such as changing electrolyte composition to form a less dendrite-prone Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) 10 , 11 , or using an additional surface layer above the anode 12 , 13 . Similar work has been reported on nanostructuring of cathode materials for enhanced performance of LIBs 14 – 16 .…”