Tuning wettability of molten lithium via a chemical strategy for lithium metal anodes

Abstract

Metallic lithium affords the highest theoretical capacity and lowest electrochemical potential and is viewed as a leading contender as an anode for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries. However, the poor wettability of molten lithium does not allow it to spread across the surface of lithiophobic substrates, hindering the production and application of this anode. Here we report a general chemical strategy to overcome this dilemma by reacting molten lithium with functional organic coatings or elemental additives. The Gibbs formation energy and newly formed chemical bonds are found to be the governing factor for the wetting behavior. As a result of the improved wettability, a series of ultrathin lithium of 10–20 μm thick is obtained together with impressive electrochemical performance in lithium metal batteries. These findings provide an overall guide for tuning the wettability of molten lithium and offer an affordable strategy for the large-scale production of ultrathin lithium, and could be further extended to other alkali metals, such as sodium and potassium.

Decoupling the origins of irreversible coulombic efficiency in anode-free lithium metal batteries

“…To overcome the aforementioned challenges, one has to systematically study Li metal stability/protection 12 , SEI formation mechanism 13 , 14 , and suppression of Li dendrite growth in LMB 15 – 17 . Many works have also been done by using different electrolyte formulas 18 , 3D architecture Li 19 , and artificial coating layers 20 to study their effect on increasing the electrochemical performance of LMB. Meanwhile, several key factors would still affect the cycling performance of LMB and are crucial in achieving high specific energy of 500 Wh kg −1 demanded by electric vehicle energy-storage market such as electrolyte amount 21 , temperature 22 , pressure 23 , amount of Li or cahode 24 , 25 , and current density applied 9 , etc.…”

Constructing multifunctional solid electrolyte interface via in-situ polymerization for dendrite-free and low N/P ratio lithium metal batteries

“…Numerous efforts, such as employing electrolyte additives, designing artificial SEI layer, developing host structure, introducing high concentration electrolyte and optimizing electrolyte component, have been attempted to construct a stable SEI towards improved LMB performance [20][21][22] . However, scarcely strategies have been developed which can simultaneously improve the performance of SEI and tackle all challenges remaining in LMB.…”

Enhanced Electrochemical Performance of Poly(ethylene oxide) Composite Polymer Electrolyte via Incorporating Lithiated Covalent Organic Framework

“…Due to the splitting of the spin-orbit, double peaks appear in the S 2p spectrum and shift to higher binding energy after being lithiated. It confirms that the environment of the S atom has changed, which is attributed to the substitution of H atoms in the sulfonates by Li atoms [17].…”