Lithium metal is among the most promising anode candidates of high-energy-density batteries. However, the formed dendrites result in low Coulombic efficiency and serious security issues. Designing lithiophilic sites is one of the effective strategies to control Li deposition. Herein, we propose a three-dimensional lithiophilic N-rich carbon nanofiber with the decoration of ZnO granules as a protective layer for a dendrite-free lithium metal anode. Theoretical evaluation indicates the synergistic effects of lithiophilic ZnO and N-containing functional groups enhance lithium adsorption and trigger uniform deposition. With the lithiophilic interlayer, the lithium deposition overpotential is only ∼20, 50, and 74 mV at 1, 3, and 6 mA cm–2, respectively, which are much lower than those without the functional interlayer (∼55, 130, and 238 mV). The average Coulombic efficiency of lithium stripping and plating is up to ∼97.4% (94.0% for that without the interlayer) at 0.5 mA cm–2. Meanwhile, the Li|LiFePO4 full cell with the superlithiophilic interlayer demonstrates a high capacity retention rate of 99.6% (91.0% for that without the interlayer) over 200 cycles at 1 C. The introduction of the lithiophilic interphase could provide a convenient strategy and guidance to design the configuration for the practical application of Li metal batteries.
The Li metal is an ideal anode material owing to its high theoretical specific capacity and low electrode potential. However, its high reactivity and dendritic growth in carbonate-based electrolytes limit its application. To address these issues, we propose a novel surface modification technique using heptafluorobutyric acid. In-situ spontaneous reaction between Li and the organic acid generates a lithiophilic interface of lithium heptafluorobutyrate for dendrite-free uniform Li deposition, which significantly improves the cycle stability (Li/Li symmetric cells >1200 h at 1.0 mA cm −2 ) and Coulombic efficiency (>99.3%) in conventional carbonate-based electrolytes. This lithiophilic interface also enables full batteries to achieve 83.2% capacity retention over 300 cycles under realistic testing condition. Lithium heptafluorobutyrate interface acts as an electrical bridge for uniform lithium-ion flux between Li anode and plating Li, which minimizes the occurrence of tortuous lithium dendrites and lowers interface impedance.
Meiqi Jia,Ting-Ting Wu,Si-Dong Zhang,Sijie Guo,Yongzhu Fu,An-Min Cao
Garnet-type solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) exemplified by Li 6.5 La 3 Zr 1.5 Ta 0.5 O 12 (LLZT) are chemically unstable when exposed to air, leading to the formation of impurities and poor wettability with Li metal. Herein, a protocol to address this Li/LLZT interface challenge is demonstrated by constructing a lithiophilic MgF 2 nanofilm on the LLZT pellet. Specifically, a solution-based process is developed for the surface engineering of LLZT, utilizing magnesium trifluoroacetate (MTF) as the molecular precursor while poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) as the coordinating agent in a sol-gel process. It is demonstrated that a facile spin-coating treatment followed by high-temperature annealing reliably forms crack-free MgF 2 nanofilms with precise thickness control. Introduction an MgF 2 interlayer transforms the LLZT pellet into a highly lithophilic, facilitating close contact with the lithium anode, thereby leading to a significantly reduced interfacial resistance from 1190 Ω cm 2 to 6 Ω cm 2 . Such an interfacial engineering enables stable cycling of full batteries with high reversibility and rate capability using commercial LiFePO 4 and LiNi 0.83 Co 0.07 Mn 0.1 O 2 as cathodes. This study unfolds the possibility of a solution-based method as a facile and scalable process for the construction of fluoride nanofilms, which is promising to address the critical interfacial challenges of solid-state batteries (SSBs) to facilitate its practical applications.