Abrasive Blasting of Lithium Metal Surfaces Yields Clean and 3D‐Structured Lithium Metal Anodes with Superior Properties

Abstract

Avoiding harmful passivation of the lithium metal surface during its implementation as an anode material is a challenge to its use in rechargeable lithium metal batteries. It is critical to control the chemical composition and the morphology of the native passivation layer and to avoid contamination by lubricants or other substances involved in the processing. Herein, abrasive blasting is used as a physical method to achieve clean and 3D‐structured lithium metal electrodes. The careful choice of the abrasive agent and the blasting parameters results in well‐controlled surface properties. The blasted lithium electrodes exhibit significantly lower overvoltages with values as low as 10 mV at 0.1 mA cm−2. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy shows that blasted lithium has interface resistances that are up to five times smaller than those of untreated lithium. The effectiveness of blasting as a cleaning method is clear even in the case of thicker and highly resistive passivation layers occurring after exposure to ambient air.

The Influence of Oxygen Dissolved in the Liquid Electrolyte on Lithium Metal Anodes

“…Various techniques (roll pressing, slicing, abrasive blasting) were used to remove the NPL, resulting in decreased interfacial resistance and overpotential and improved cycling performance and reproducability. [39][40][41] In order to successfully cycle a Li metal electrode, this should be taken into account during cell manufacture. Interestingly, we found that the amount of F on the SEI of the commercial Li foil increases when O 2 is dissolved in the electrolyte, hence the opposite trend than on the plated Li (Fig.…”

Surface Reconditioning of Lithium Metal Electrodes by Laser Treatment for the Industrial Production of Enhanced Lithium Metal Batteries

“…The deliberate laser-induced formation of mazes, bumps, nano-forests, trenches, and chaotic microstructures has already been demonstrated for various metals, such as aluminum, copper, stainless steel, and titanium. [104] Increasing the active surface area analogously to alternative techniques for creating organized [46][47][48] or chaotic [42] surface structures may prove particularly valuable for liquid-electrolyte bat-teries, reducing the effective current density at the lithiumelectrolyte interface. [42,46,49] It shall be noted that longer pulse durations in the nanosecond range may also be a suitable choice to effect melting and cratering [65] since lithium metal primarily undergoes melting rather than evaporation on that timescale.…”

“…[45] Strategies to magnify the active surface area for decreasing the effective areal current densities and, thus, mitigating the risk of lithium dendrite growth include surface pattering by micro-needles, [46,47] molds, [48] or abrasive sandblasting. [42] Besides, lithium powder electrodes are tested, inherently offering higher surface areas than standard lithium metal foils. [49,50] Other research concentrates on eliminating surface imperfections, such as cracks or stress lines, that could trigger irregular lithium deposition, referred to as high surface area lithium.…”

Innovative surface bio-functionalization by fungal hydrophobins and their engineered variants

“…Stanzione et al (2021) designed and expressed in E. coli two Vmh2 fusion proteins in which the HPB partners were singlechain fragment variables (ScFvs) of antibodies, able to recognize two marine neurotoxins, saxitoxin and domoic acid. These algal toxins are associated with algal blooms and can be bioaccumulated in fish or shellfish, leading to heavy consequences for human health (Vilariño et al, 2009).…”

“…Different strategies have been studied and optimized according to the nature of the surface to derivatize and the target application. There are plenty of examples in the literature, ranging from physical techniques (i.e., laser ablation, abrasive blasting, evaporation, and ion-assisted deposition) ( Peng et al, 2016 ; Yang et al, 2017 ; Letzel et al, 2019 ; Wolf et al, 2021 ) to chemical treatments (i.e., chemical vapor deposition, plasma-assisted surface oxidation, nitration, hydrolyzation, and amination) ( Javanbakht et al, 2015 ; Boaretti et al, 2020 ), that are commonly used. The mentioned strategies are affected by high costs and environmental impacts due to the inclusion of several time-consuming steps and often using hazardous reagents/solvents under harsh environmental conditions ( Lavilla et al, 2014 ).…”