Suppressing Dendritic Lithium Formation Using Porous Media in Lithium Metal-Based Batteries

Abstract

Because of its ultrahigh specific capacity, lithium metal holds great promise for revolutionizing current rechargeable battery technologies. Nevertheless, the unavoidable formation of dendritic Li, as well as the resulting safety hazards and poor cycling stability, have significantly hindered its practical applications. A mainstream strategy to solve this problem is introducing porous media, such as solid electrolytes, modified separators, or artificial protection layers, to block Li dendrite penetration. However, the scientific foundation of this strategy has not yet been elucidated. Herein, using experiments and simulation we analyze the role of the porous media in suppressing dendritic Li growth and probe the underlying fundamental mechanisms. It is found that the tortuous pores of the porous media, which drastically reduce the local flux of Li moving toward the anode and effectively extend the physical path of dendrite growth, are the key to achieving the nondendritic Li growth. On the basis of the theoretical exploration, we synthesize a novel porous silicon nitride submicron-wire membrane and incorporate it in both half-cell and full-cell configurations. The operation time of the battery cells is significantly extended without a short circuit. The findings lay the foundation to use a porous medium for achieving nondendritic Li growth in Li metal-based batteries.

3D Porous Cu Current Collectors Derived by Hydrogen Bubble Dynamic Template for Enhanced Li Metal Anode Performance

“…The deposited Li on bare Cu shows loose structure and distinct dendrites, as shown in Figure a,b. The loose structure will not only increase the contact area between the electrode and the electrolyte, and increase the consumption of the electrolyte, but also cause uneven local current density and promote the growth of dendrites, which seriously affect the CE and cycle life . On the contrary, after 50 cycles of Li stripping/plating, Li deposits on the 3D Cu foil with the compact structure and without obvious Li dendrites.…”

Metal Organic Framework Derivative Improving Lithium Metal Anode Cycling

“…However, its practical application is severely hindered by the problems of uncontrollable dendrite growth, low Coulombic efficiency (CE) and Li metal deactivation during the electrochemical plating and stripping process . Strategies such as electrolyte engineering, artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), structured electrodes, and separator membrane modification, have been demonstrated to be effective in alleviating these issues via regulation of Li ion transport and/or interfacial properties …”

Reduced‐Graphene‐Oxide‐Guided Directional Growth of Planar Lithium Layers

“…To revolutionize current electrochemical energy storage technologies for the ever‐increasing demand in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid‐scale storage, high‐energy‐density and safe rechargeable battery systems beyond Li‐ion batteries are highly desired . Lithium (Li) metal anodes hold great potential in rechargeable Li‐metal‐based batteries (LMBs), especially for lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, owing to the high theoretical capacity (3860 mAh g −1 ) and the low electrochemical potential (−3.04 V vs standard hydrogen electrode) .…”

“…Great progress on the technical aspects has been made in the past decade. However, the fundamental understandings of intrinsic electrocrystallization characteristics of Li during repeated electrodeposition/stripping have been barely reported . Furthermore, the utilization of Li metal has been overlooked in the past research, resulting in the unsatisfactory energy and power densities of the full cell configuration, and therefore hindering the practical application of Li metal anodes in LMBs.…”