A Powder Metallurgic Approach toward High‐Performance Lithium Metal Anodes

Abstract

The development of lithium metal anodes capable of sustaining large volume changes, avoiding lithium dendrite formation, and remaining stable in ambient air is crucial for commercially viable lithium metal batteries. Toward this goal, the fabrication of porous and lithiophilic copper scaffolds via a powder metallurgy strategy is reported. Infiltrating the scaffolds with molten lithium followed by exposure to Freon R134a produces lithium metal anodes with dramatically improved rate performance and cycling stability. This work provides a simple yet effective route for the fabrication of safe, low‐cost lithium metal batteries with high energy density.

Strategies in Structure and Electrolyte Design for High‐Performance Lithium Metal Batteries

“…To address this challenge, various approaches such as nano‐crystallization and surface coating are employed to improve the lithiophilicity of these metal substrates. To date, various nanoscale metal scaffolds such as nanoporous Cu formed by dealloying, [ 87 ] 3D nanoporous Cu derived by hydrogen bubble dynamic template, [ 96 ] 3D Cu current collector with a biporous structure, [ 97 ] free‐standing Cu nanowire network formed by a reduction process, [ 98 ] nanoporous Cu film by powder metallurgic approach, [ 99 ] and so on, have been explored for lithium metal anodes. The nanoporous surface provides a large number of nanoscale protuberant tips, which can effectively enhance the Li wettability of 3D metals ( Figure a).…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 99 ] Copyright 2020, WILEY‐VCH GmbH & Co. KGaA. b) The structure evolution from CuZn alloy to 3D porous CuZn, and finally to Li/CuZn composite.…”

Conductive Iodine‐Doped Red Phosphorus Enabled Dendrite‐Free Lithium Deposition on MXene Matrix

“…tems with higher energy density are urgently required to achieve sustainable development. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been unable to satisfy growing energy demands owing to their limited capacity, [1][2][3] but lithium-metal batteries (LMBs) are ideal for high energy density batteries because the lithium anode has a high theoretical capacity (3860 mAh g −1 ) and low redox potential (-3.04 V vs standard hydrogen electrodes). [4][5][6] However, some issues have obstructed the development of LMBs, including 1) side reactions between the lithium anode and electrolyte, [7] 2) lithium dendrites formed by uneven dissolution and deposition of lithium, [8] and 3) large changes in the volume of the lithium metal during plating/stripping.…”

Design of Robust, Lithiophilic, and Flexible Inorganic‐Polymer Protective Layer by Separator Engineering Enables Dendrite‐Free Lithium Metal Batteries with LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 Cathode

“…However, the practical application of Li metal anodes has been greatly limited, mainly because of the uncontrolled growth of Li dendrites in the charge/discharge process, bring about capacity fade and even serious security issues. [ 7,8 ] During cell operation, the objective micro‐roughness of Li electrode surfaces causes an inhomogeneous distribution of Li ions flux and followed by the formation of Li dendrite. The resulting Li dendrite gradually growth during plating/stripping processes, tends to impale the separator leading to an internal short‐circuit sometimes with fire or explosion.…”