Regulating Lithium Nucleation via CNTs Modifying Carbon Cloth Film for Stable Li Metal Anode

Abstract

Li metal is demonstrated as one of the most promising anode materials for high energy density batteries. However, uncontrollable Li dendrite growth and repeated growth of solid electrolyte interface during the charge/discharge process lead to safety issues and capacity decay, preventing its practical application. To address these issues, an effective strategy is to realize uniform Li nucleation. Here, a stable lithium–scaffold composite electrode (CC/CNT@Li) is designed by melting of lithium metal into 3D interconnected lithiophilic carbon nanotube (CNT) on a porous carbon cloth (CC). The 3D interconnected CNTs successfully change the lithiophobic CC into lithiophilic nature, reducing the polarization of the electrode, ensuring homogenous Li nucleation and continuous smooth Li plating. The CNTs on the surface of CC provide adequate Li nucleation sites and reduce the areal current density to avoid Li dendrite growth. The 3D porous structure of CC/CNT offers enough free room for buffering the huge volume change during Li plating/stripping. The CC/CNT@Li composite anode exhibits dendrite‐free morphology and superior cycling performances over 500 h with low voltage hysteresis of 18, 23, and 71 mV at the current density of 1, 2, and 5 mA cm−2, respectively.

Regulating Lithium Nucleation and Deposition via MOF‐Derived Co@C‐Modified Carbon Cloth for Stable Li Metal Anode

“…This phenomenon demonstrates that the enhancement of electronic conductivity can be achieved with CC@CN‐Co@Li electrode. Thus, more fast Li deposition/dissolution kinetics are achieved 32. The R ct of CC@CN‐Co@Li decreases to a much smaller value (1 Ω) after 500 cycles under 2 mA cm −2 for a certain capacity of 1 mA h cm −2 , which is ascribed to the production of more stable SEI with low ion diffusion barrier.…”

“…The galvanostatic cycling performance was adopted to evaluate the long‐term cyclic stability and voltage hysteresis of CC@CN‐Co@Li composite anode in symmetric coin cells (Li foil and bare CC as contrast electrodes). The voltage hysteresis during Li deposition/dissolve process reflects the electrochemical performance of Li metal anode 13,32. These three types of symmetrical coin cells were performed under 2 mA cm −2 for a certain cyclic areal capacity of 1 mA h cm −2 ( Figure a).…”

Boosting the Reversibility of Sodium Metal Anode via Heteroatom‐Doped Hollow Carbon Fibers

“…To confirm the doping of N, S elements into the HCF, high‐angle annular dark field scanning TEM (HAADF‐STEM) with the corresponding elemental mapping were employed, where the homogenous distribution of N, S elements in the D‐HCF is clearly validated (Figure f–i). Interestingly, after being made into slurry and pasted onto planar Cu, the as‐prepared D‐HCF electrode inherited its pristine morphology with good structural robustness, which provides a desirable structure to host Na (Figure S3, Supporting Information) …”

“…Figure a shows the X‐ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of D‐HCF, illustrating two broad reflection peaks at around 26° and 42°. They can be assigned to the (002) and (100) planes of the graphitic carbon, respectively, which shows a disordered carbon structure that agrees well with the HRTEM result . The Raman spectra shows D and G bands centered at 1347.8 and 1586.3 cm −1 (Figure b).…”

Towards high energy density lithium battery anodes: silicon and lithium

“…Therefore, the continuous growth of dendritic Li will lead to many problems, limiting the cycling performance, resulting in cell short circuit and safety problems, and dead Li formation losing electrochemical contact 14. Various pathways have been explored to suppress Li dendrite growth,82–86 including surface engineering on Li metal anodes,87–91 introducing a stable host for pre-storing Li92–97 and electrolyte modification 98–101…”