Dinitride-free Li plating/stripping via lithiophilic seeds in a 3D matrix for enhanced Li-metal battery stability

The uncontrolled dendrite growth and volume change of Li metal during cycling lead to a short cycle life and safety concerns for Li-metal batteries, which hinders their practical application. Herein, we report the facile and energy-saving production of a three-dimensional (3D) CuZn matrix decorated with in-situ formed ZnO nano seeds (ZnO NS@3D CuZn) in pores and tunnels, which can serve as an anode current collector for dendrite-free Li-metal batteries. The 3D porous framework reduced the anode current density and accommodated Li volume change during the charge/discharge process. More importantly, the lithiophilic ZnO nano seeds induced fast Li deposition into the pores and tunnels of the 3D structure to effectively confine the deposited Li. As a positive effect, the volume change and Li dendrite growth during cycling are greatly suppressed. The half-cell with the ZnO NS@3D CuZn current collector exhibited a Coulombic efficiency (CE) of above 98% for over 320 and 240 cycles at 0.5 and 1 mA·cm⁻², respectively. The Li@ZnO NS@3D CuZn symmetric cell achieves a lifespan of over 1500 h. Moreover, the Li@ZnO NS@3D CuZn||LiFePO₄ full cell achieves a superb average CE of 99.4% and a long life of 600 cycles before the capacity retention rate decays to 90%.