The
polymer protective layer on the lithium anode has received
significant attention for flexibility, controllable synthesis, simple
film fabrication, and structural versatility. However, the insulating
properties of polymers and the unwanted dissolution of the polymer
layer in the electrolyte greatly influence long-term cycle stability
of lithium metal batteries. Here, we fabricated a polymer Guiselin
brush via physical aging to solve the critical challenges and induce
uniform Li deposition on the electrode. We first chose a polyester
with fluoroalkane side chain (poly(2,2,3,4,4,4-hexafluorobutyl
methacrylate), PFMA) as the protective layer of the electrode. The
results show that the PFMA Guiselin brush can induce uniform deposition
of Li ions and greatly improve the Coulombic efficiency and cycle
stability of batteries. The C–F bond of PFMA can easily break
to form a component LiF that is beneficial to the solid–electrolyte
interphase layer and effectively reduce the overpotential. In addition,
different polymer protective layers were chosen, and the results show
that all of these treated protective layers can improve the cycle
stability of batteries. As a simple fabricating approach for polymers,
the Guiselin brush is widely used and can be applied to other polymer
chains. Therefore, this work proposes a facile, efficient, and general
method to improve lithium deposition and battery performance.