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Nano Research 2023, 16(6): 8297-8303 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4981-3
Research Article | Issue | Published: 11 October 2022

Lithiophilic interface guided transient infiltration of molten lithium for stable 3D composite lithium anodes

Show Author's Information Lan-Xing Li§,  Yun-Nuo Li§,  Fei-Fei Cao( ),  Huan Ye( )
College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

§ Lan-Xing Li and Yun-Nuo Li contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
interfacial layer, lithium metal battery, composite Li anode, thermal infusion, long cycling life
Topics:
Lithium batteries
Cite this article:
Li L-X, Li Y-N, Cao F-F, et al. Lithiophilic interface guided transient infiltration of molten lithium for stable 3D composite lithium anodes. Nano Research, 2023, 16(6): 8297-8303. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4981-3
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Fabricating three-dimensional (3D) composite lithium anodes via thermal infusion effectively addresses uncontrollable Li deposition and large volume changes. However, potential risks due to the long wetting time and high melting point remain a critical yet unconsidered issue. Herein, we report a stable 3D composite Li anode by infusing molten Li into a 3D scaffold within 3 s at 220 °C. The key-enabling technique is the growth of a lithiophilic Mg-Al double oxide (LDO) nanosheet array layer on the scaffold. The in-situ formed lithiophilic alloy, combined with the capillary forces from the nanosheet arrays, enabled the transient infiltration of molten Li. In addition, the formed high ionic-conductivity Li phase can help construct a robust solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), stabilize the Li anode/electrolyte interface, and guide uniform Li deposition. The 3D composite anode exhibited a long cycling life of 1,000 h under a current density of 1 mA·cm−2 and over 1,600 h under a current density of 2 mA·cm−2 with a high areal capacity of 4 mAh·cm−2 in Li/Li symmetric cells. The 3D composite anodes paired with high areal capacity LiFePO4 (LFP) and S cathodes demonstrate its practical application feasibility.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Lithiophilic interface guided transient infiltration of molten lithium for stable 3D composite lithium anodes

Show Author's information Lan-Xing Li§, Yun-Nuo Li§, Fei-Fei Cao( ), Huan Ye( )
College of Science, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China

§ Lan-Xing Li and Yun-Nuo Li contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Fabricating three-dimensional (3D) composite lithium anodes via thermal infusion effectively addresses uncontrollable Li deposition and large volume changes. However, potential risks due to the long wetting time and high melting point remain a critical yet unconsidered issue. Herein, we report a stable 3D composite Li anode by infusing molten Li into a 3D scaffold within 3 s at 220 °C. The key-enabling technique is the growth of a lithiophilic Mg-Al double oxide (LDO) nanosheet array layer on the scaffold. The in-situ formed lithiophilic alloy, combined with the capillary forces from the nanosheet arrays, enabled the transient infiltration of molten Li. In addition, the formed high ionic-conductivity Li phase can help construct a robust solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), stabilize the Li anode/electrolyte interface, and guide uniform Li deposition. The 3D composite anode exhibited a long cycling life of 1,000 h under a current density of 1 mA·cm−2 and over 1,600 h under a current density of 2 mA·cm−2 with a high areal capacity of 4 mAh·cm−2 in Li/Li symmetric cells. The 3D composite anodes paired with high areal capacity LiFePO4 (LFP) and S cathodes demonstrate its practical application feasibility.

Keywords: interfacial layer, lithium metal battery, composite Li anode, thermal infusion, long cycling life

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 15 June 2022
Revised: 25 August 2022
Accepted: 29 August 2022
Published: 11 October 2022
Issue date: June 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21975091, 21805105, and 21773078), the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (No. 2019CFA046), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (No. 2662021JC004). This work is also thanks to Siyuan Zeng, Lotus Zhang, and Carol Wang for their support of this work.

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