Promote Stable Lithium Deposition by Curvature Optimization Using Lithiophilic Ni Nano‐starfish@Al Structured Current Collector

Abstract

Lithium(Li) metal is an anode candidate for rechargeable batteries due to its ultra‐high theoretical capacity and extremely low standard potential. However, the dendritic Li and dead Li have hindered the practical application of next‐generation batteries. Constructing 3D anode current collectors can not only decrease the local current density but also relieve the volume expansion. Herein, the 3D Ni nano‐starfish@Al(NSA) is synthesized as anode current collectors. Compared with the 3D Ni nano‐cone@Al(NCA) with sharp cone tips, the NSA shows a superior cycle performance, especially at high current density. This is because the NSA has a more uniform surface curvature than NCA, which makes the electric field distribution more homogeneous and reduces the local electric field, thereby inducing the even deposition of Li and suppressing the growth of Li dendrites. The NSA@Li anode gives superior cycling performance over 2800 h at a current density of 4 mA cm−2 in a symmetric cell. A full cell paired with LiFePO4 cathode shows high Coulombic efficiency of 96.8% approaching 200 cycle‐life at 0.5 °C. This work provides a view of the microstructure design of current collectors for achieving better performance Li metal batteries.