Nitrogen‐Doped Amorphous Zn–Carbon Multichannel Fibers for Stable Lithium Metal Anodes

Abstract

The application of lithium metal anodes for practical batteries is still impeded by safety issues and low Coulombic efficiency caused mainly by the uncontrollable growth of lithium dendrites. Herein, two types of free‐standing nitrogen‐doped amorphous Zn–carbon multichannel fibers are synthesized as multifunctional hosts for lithium accommodation. The 3D macroporous structures endow effectively reduced local current density, and the lithiophilic nitrogen‐doped carbon and functional Zn nanoparticles serve as preferred deposition sites with low nucleation barriers to guide uniform lithium deposition. As a result, the developed anodes exhibit remarkable electrochemical properties in terms of high Coulombic efficiency for more than 500 cycles at various current densities from 1 to 5 mA cm−2, and symmetric cells show long‐term cycling duration over 2000 h. Moreover, full cells based on the developed anode and a LiFePO4 cathode also demonstrate superior rate capability and stable cycle life.

A highly stable lithium metal anode enabled by Ag nanoparticle–embedded nitrogen-doped carbon macroporous fibers

“…However, the uncontrollable growth of Li dendrites and collapse of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer lead to low Coulombic efficiency (CE) and deteriorated cycling performance, which largely restrict the practical application of the Li metal anode (LMA) (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13). Considerable efforts have been made to regulate the Li plating/ stripping behaviors for stable Li metal batteries, including developing functional electrolytes (14)(15)(16)(17)(18), constructing well-designed three-dimensional (3D) host structures (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), and using artificial protection layers (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). Despite much progress (31,32), it remains a challenge to explore LMA with stable cycling life over 500 cycles at practical current densities greater than 1 mA cm −2 .…”

Carbon‐based interface engineering and architecture design for high‐performance lithium metal anodes

“…The results show the uniform Li deposition on the carbon fiber framework after the modification of Ag particles because of the negligible nucleation overpotential. In addition to Au 107,108 and Ag, [109][110][111][112] the researchers also introduced lithiophilic zinc (Zn), 113,114 cobalt (Co), [115][116][117] Ni, 118,119 and other heterogeneous nanoseeds on the carbon framework. The dispersion of these nanoseeds on the carbon framework is beneficial to guiding the deposition of Li, thereby inhibiting the growth of Li dendrites.…”

Constructing ultra-stable, high-energy, and flexible aqueous zinc-ion batteries using environment-friendly organic cathodes

“…For a long time, developing novel cathode materials has been one of the research priorities for aqueous zinc-ion batteries (AZIBs). [1][2][3] Initially, the exploration of electrode materials for AZIBs revolved around some conventional inorganic materials. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10] However, the crystal lattice structure of inorganic materials tends to undergo irreversible distortion, collapse, and dissolution in Zn 2+ storage and release, ultimately resulting in poor cycle stability of AZIBs.…”