In-Plane Highly Dispersed Cu₂O Nanoparticles for Seeded Lithium Deposition

Abstract

Uncontrollable dendrite growth is one of the major problems that hinders the application of lithium (Li) metal anode in rechargeable Li batteries. Achieving uniform Li deposition is the key to tackle this intractable problem. Herein, we report the highly dispersed Cu2O nanoparticles (NPs) in situ anchored on partially reduced graphene oxide via a low-temperature pyrolysis process could serve as seeds for the Li metal deposition. The lithiophilic nature of Cu2O NPs reduces the overpotential of Li nucleation and relieves the electrode polarization, enabling uniform Li nucleation and smooth plating, thus effectively eliminating dendritic and dead Li. As a result, the resulted Li metal electrodes deliver a high Coulombic efficiency of 95.6% after 140 cycles at a current density of 2 mA cm–2 and a prolonged lifespan (800 h at 1 mA cm–2) for the symmetrical cell.

Advances in the Design of 3D‐Structured Electrode Materials for Lithium‐Metal Anodes

“…[115,116] GNSs hybridized with metal-based lithiophilic nanoparticles such as Co, Ni 3 N, Cu 2 O, and Au ones showed excellent electrochemical performance and effectively guided highly homogeneous metal deposition. [115][116][117][118][119] In particular, heteroatom-rich GNSs with Co nanoparticles showed a very low nucleation overpotential of ≈17 mV (Figure 7b), while NiN-hybridized nitrogen-rich GNSs showed stable Li plating/stripping cycling behavior for 1400 h at 1 mA cm −2 (Figure 7c). As carbon frameworks, commercial carbon papers/cloths were also hybridized with lithiophilic metal-based nanoparticles, [120][121][122][123] and carbon fibers coated with SnO 2 , [120] Ag, [121] and ZnO nanoparti-cles [122] as well as Co 3 O 4 nanofibers [123] were shown to be promising LMA materials (Figure 7d).…”

“…[ 110–114 ] As a carbon framework, GNSs with a large surface area and oxygenated functional groups were also used in combination with lithiophilic metal‐based nanoparticles. [ 115–118 ] The effective surface area of GNSs was further increased through template‐guided self‐assembly, [ 115 ] while the introduction of nitrogen‐containing functional groups increased GNS lithiophilicity. [ 115,116 ] GNSs hybridized with metal‐based lithiophilic nanoparticles such as Co, Ni 3 N, Cu 2 O, and Au ones showed excellent electrochemical performance and effectively guided highly homogeneous metal deposition.…”

Horizontal Stress Release for Protuberance‐Free Li Metal Anode

“…[ 1,2,5–8 ] In spite of the successful use in primary batteries, Li metal anode presents a poor cyclability and low Coulombic efficiency in secondary batteries, as well as encounters severe safety concerns caused by the perpendicular growth of Li dendrites. [ 1,2,9 ] Efforts toward addressing these issues so far mainly focused on dendrite‐growth‐delay and ‐suppression strategies via the employments of optimized electrolyte, [ 10 ] modified separators, [ 11,12 ] Li surface modifications, [ 13,14 ] artificial anode surface coatings, [ 15–17 ] nano‐ and microstructured porous current collectors, [ 6,18–20 ] etc. Despite numerous efforts have been made to restrain the dendrite formation, the emergence of Li dendrites cannot be completely avoided during prolonged cycling, especially when batteries are operated in overcharge ultimate or at low operation temperatures.…”

In Situ Growing Chromium Oxynitride Nanoparticles on Carbon Nanofibers to Stabilize Lithium Deposition for Lithium Metal Anodes

“…More importantly, the proper balance of the size and distribution of nanoseeds (e.g., nanoparticles) on the host scaffolds plays a key role in promoting a uniform lithium deposition, thereby suppressing the formation of Li dendrites. [ 22,23,46 ] To further explore the universality of this in situ growing method, an asphaltene and magnesium acetate‐modified CNFs were synthesized under the same condition as ACrCFs except for the addition of magnesium acetate instead of chromium acetate, and denoted as AMgCFs. The X‐ray diffraction (XRD) pattern and SEM image of AMgCFs demonstrate that uniform MgO nanoparticles were also embedded on the surface of CNFs (Figure S7, Supporting Information).…”

“…Moreover, the CE of ACrCFs‐0.5, ACrCFs‐1.5, and ACrCFs‐2.0 electrodes can be remained at ≈98% for only 246, 155, and 77 cycles at 1 mA cm −2 with 1 mA h cm −2 Li, respectively (Figure S13b, Supporting Information), indicating that the unbalanced size and distribution of the nanoparticles could lead to the uneven deposition of Li metal and deteriorate the stability of composite Li anode (Figure S6 and S13a, Supporting Information). [ 22,23,46 ] When increasing the current density to 3 and 5 mA cm −2 with the areal capacity of 1 mA h cm −2 , the CE of ACrCFs can still maintain at >97.0% for 180 cycles (Figure 4f) and >95.0% for 120 cycles (Figure S14a, Supporting Information), respectively. More importantly, a high CE above 98.5% for 100 and 70 cycles of the ACrCFs electrode could be easily obtained after the Li areal capacity increased to 3 mA h cm −2 at 1 mA cm −2 and 6 mA h cm −2 at 2 mA cm −2 , respectively (Figure S14b,c, Supporting Information).…”