Interelectrode Talk in Solid‐State Lithium‐Metal Batteries

Abstract

Solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries have been identified as a strategic research direction for the electric vehicle industry because of their promising high energy density and potential characteristic safety. However, the intrinsic mechanical properties of solid materials cause inevitable electro‐chemo‐mechanical failure of electrodes and electrolytes during charging and discharging; these failure mechanisms include lithium penetration and formation of cracks and voids, which pose a serious challenge for the long cycle life of solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries. Here, a short overview of the recent advances with a view to understand this challenge is provided. Furthermore, new insights into the cross‐talk behavior between the cathode and lithium‐metal anode are provided based on the non‐uniform Li+ flux inducing interactional electro‐chemo‐mechanical failure. Furthermore, guidelines for designing stable solid‐state lithium‐metal batteries and research directions to figure out the interelectrode‐talk‐related electro‐chemo‐mechanical failure mechanism are presented, which can be significant for accelerating the development of solid‐state lithium batteries.

Interfacial engineering for high‐performance garnet‐based solid‐state lithium batteries

“…While solid‐state electrolytes offer a potential avenue for achieving higher energy density and enhanced safety in lithium metal batteries, the intrinsic mechanical properties of solid‐state electrolytes can also lead to inevitable electrochemical‐mechanical failures in electrodes and electrolytes during the charge–discharge processes 57–59 . These failure effects mainly include lithium nucleation, lithium whisker penetration, and crack formation 60–62 . Tippens et al 63 .…”

Progress and Perspective of Controlling Li Dendrites Growth in All‐Solid‐State Li Metal Batteries via External Physical Fields

“…It has been widely acknowledged that unique challenges such as solid–solid interfacial issues, cracking of SEs, Li metal penetration through SE, and so on contribute fundamentally to the poor cycle life, limited rate capability, and insufficient capacity retention of the prototype SSLBs, as recently summarized by the excellent works from Shao's group, [ 10 ] Janek's group, [ 11 ] McDowell's group, [ 12 ] Bruce and co‐workers, [ 13 ] Zhang and co‐workers, [ 14 ] Park's group, [ 15 ] Yang's group, [ 16 ] Viswanathan's group, [ 17 ] Meng's group, [ 18 ] Zhao and co‐workers, [ 19 ] and others. [ 20–23 ] Among these challenges, the uncontrollable growth of Li electrodeposits in forms of filaments/needles/dendrites (hereafter the “dendrites” will be used) through the SEs, which is the so‐called Li penetration, poses severe challenge in developing and manufacturing next‐generation SSLBs due to a significant loss of energy efficiency and catastrophic cell failure via short‐circuiting. Hence, addressing this Li penetration bottleneck will not only achieve high‐safety, energy‐dense SSLBs but also accelerate their practical adoptions.…”