High‐Areal Capacity, High‐Rate Lithium Metal Anodes Enabled by Nitrogen‐Doped Graphene Mesh

Abstract

Hosts hold great prospects for addressing the dendrite growth and volume expansion of the Li metal anode, but Li dendrites are still observable under the conditions of high deposition capacity and/or high current density. Herein, a nitrogen‐doped graphene mesh (NGM) is developed, which possesses a conductive and lithiophilic scaffold for efficient Li deposition. The abundant nanopores in NGM can not only provide sufficient room for Li deposition, but also speed up Li ion transport to achieve a high‐rate capability. Moreover, the evenly distributed N dopants on the NGM can guide the uniform nucleation of Li so that to inhibit dendrite growth. As a result, the composite NGM@Li anode shows satisfactory electrochemical performances for Li–S batteries, including a high capacity of 600 mAh g−1 after 300 cycles at 1 C and a rate capacity of 438 mAh g−1 at 3 C. This work provides a new avenue for the fabrication of graphene‐based hosts with large areal capacity and high‐rate capability for Li metal batteries.

Design advanced lithium metal anode materials in high energy density lithium batteries

“…Lithium metal is one of the candidate anode materials for the next generation of lithium batteries [ [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] ]. As an alternative to the traditional carbon anode, lithium metal has a theoretical capacity of 3860 mAh g −1 , the lowest electrochemical potential (−3.04 V vs standard hydrogen electrode).…”

Interaction Mechanisms Between Nitrogen‐Containing Groups and Alkali Metals with Molecular Model System of HATCN**

“…Anode hosts with high ionic conductivity, low deposition overpotential, large surface area, and superior structural stability have proven beneficial [14] . For instance, nitrogen‐doped carbon‐based frameworks like NGM, [15] PN‐G, [16] N/O‐CC, [17] and 3DP‐NGA [18] exhibit enhanced lithiophilicity/sodiophilicity due to nitrogen doping, making them highly effective anode deposition hosts. In addition, fabricating artificial protective layers on AMAs is effective to reduce undesirable reactions between the anode and electrolyte by impeding their direct contact, and these layers help regulate a uniform metal ion flux through their homogeneous composition and structure [3b,19] .…”