Guided lithium nucleation and growth on lithiophilic tin-decorated copper substrate

Date
2022-08-04
Advisor
Instructor
Source Title
Journal of Energy Chemistry
Print ISSN
2095-4956
Electronic ISSN
2096-885X
Publisher
Elsevier Inc.
Volume
74
Issue
Pages
412 - 419
Language
English
Type
Article
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract

Lithium metal is the ultimate anode choice for high energy rechargeable lithium batteries owing to its ultra-high theoretical capacity, however, Li dendrites and low Coulombic efficiency (CE) caused by disordered Li plating restrict its practical application. Herein, we develop an ultrathin Sn-decorated Cu substrate (Sn@Cu) fabricated by an electroless plating method to induce ordered Li nucleation and growth behavior. The lithiophilic Sn interfacial layer is found to play a critical role to lower the Li nucleation over-potential and promote fast Li-migration kinetics, and the underlying mechanism is revealed using the first principle calculations. Accordingly, a dense dendrite-free and Li deposition with large granular morphology is obtained, which significantly improved the CE and cycling performance of Li||Sn@Cu half cells symmetric cells. Symmetric cells using the Li-Sn@Cu electrode display a much-prolonged life span (>1200 h) with low overpotential (∼18 mV) at a high current density of 1 mA cm−2. Moreover, full cells paired with commercial LiFePO4 cathode (1.8 mAh cm−2) deliver enhanced cycling stability (0.5 C, 300 cycles) and excellent rate performance. This work provides a simple and effective way to bring about high efficiency and long lifespan substrates for practical applications.

Course
Other identifiers
Book Title
Keywords
Lithium metal anode, Lithiophilic tin modification, Electroless tin plating, Nucleation and growth, Li migration kinetics, First-principles calculations
Citation
Published Version (Please cite this version)