Constructing lithium-free anode/separator interface via 3D carbon fabric scaffold for ultrasafe lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Metallic lithium represents a promising anode candidate to be utilized in future high-energy lithium batteries. However, the undesirable dendrite growth and fragile solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) pose critical challenge for pursuing further practical application. In contrast to traditional approaches of using inert/lithiophilicity coating, here, we demonstrate a reverse strategy of introducing a highly conductive and lithophobic carbon fabric (CF) scaffold on lithium foil to guide a favorable nucleation site of lithium far away from the anode/separator interface. The CF scaffold with high conductivity can couple with inner electric field for achieving a uniform distribution of the lithium-ion flux, while the lithophobic feature offers the condition to guide the preferred deposition of lithium onto the underlying lithium foil, which greatly reduces the risk of dendrite-induced short circuits. Moreover, the SEI immersed in the CF scaffold is well supported by CF fibers and therefore exhibits extremely high stability during charge–discharge cycles. As a result, the lithium/CF anodes show >2,000-h stable cycling at 0.5 mA cm−2. Lithium metal batteries equipped with our lithium/CF anode deliver a high capacity retention of ~99.99% per cycle, i.e., retain ~97.3% capacity after 200 cycles. The unique interface-regulation strategy is versatile for various conductive scaffolds (e.g., ultrathin and ultralight conductive fabrics), exhibiting high superiority for highly safe lithium metal batteries.