Li metal coated with amorphous Li3PO4 via magnetron sputtering for stable and long-cycle life lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Lithium metal with high theoretical capacity (3860 mAh/g) and low operational voltage (-3.04 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode) reflects to be one of the most high energy density anodes for energy storage devices. While, its high chemical activity to continuously react with electrolytes causing low coulombic efficiency and formation of lithium dendrites leading safety concern limits practical applications. To conquer these challenges, amorphous Li 3 PO 4 thin films with thickness of 0-200 nm are directly coated on the surface of Li metal foil via magnetron sputtering. The as-prepared Li 3 PO 4 has almost insulated property with electronic conductivity of 1.4×10 -10 S/cm and ionic conductivity of 2.8×10 -8 S/cm. The conformal coating layer Li 3 PO 4 can successfully suppress the lithium dendrites growth and improve its life span. The remarkable improvements of the Li 3 PO 4 -coated Li electrodes are mainly attributed to high chemical stability as well as amorphous nature of Li 3 PO 4 , which leads layer-by-layer growth Li film rather than islands form dendrites.

Kinetics‐Controlled Degradation Reactions at Crystalline LiPON/LixCoO2 and Crystalline LiPON/Li‐Metal Interfaces

“…Lithium interfaces must be assembled below 500 K. At this temperature, the predicted ∆E * is too still high for the reaction to occur within reasonable timescales. The high activation energy associated with P-O bond cleavage is likely the reason Li 3 PO 4 has also been used as coating layers for lithium metal [64], even though Li 3 PO 4 is also thermodynamically unstable against Li metal [27].…”

Nitrogen‐doped nanoarray‐modified 3D hierarchical graphene as a cofunction host for high‐performance flexible Li‐S battery

“…To overcome challenges in Li-S batteries, various methods have been thoroughly explored for Li anode or S cathode separately, with little attention to the cofunction hosts for both Li and S. [13][14][15] For Li anode, there are some strategies to improve the cycling performance, including the design of stable artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), [16][17][18] rational engineering of interfacial layer, [19][20][21][22][23] the use of vertically aligned channels, 24,25 the introduction of 3D scaffolds as the current collectors, [26][27][28][29][30] and so on. 31 3D porous scaffolds are the current research hotspot in Li anode for improving the Li plating/stripping behavior by accommodating volume change and reducing current density.…”

A lightweight carbon nanofiber-based 3D structured matrix with high nitrogen-doping level for lithium metal anodes

“…Artificial SEI layer constructing before cell cycling was also proposed to protect the surface. [24][25][26][27][28][29] However, the volume changes of lithium metal during the cycling inevitably generate the stress which will destroy the above passivation layers. Thus, the conductive threedimensional (3D) framework structures for lithium deposition, like the porous Cu current collectors and threedimensional graphene framework, attract great attention because they can lower the local electrode current density and accommodate the large volume changes [30][31][32][33][34][35][36].…”