In-situ Constructing a Mixed-Conductive Interfacial Protective Layer for
Ultra-Stable Lithium Metal Anodes
Abstract
Lithium metal batteries are the most promising next-generation energy
storage technologies due to their high energy density. However, their
practical application is impeded by serious interfacial side reactions
and dendrite growth of lithium metal anode (LMA). Herein, copper
2,4,5-trifluorophenylacetate (CuTFPAA) is synthesized and used to
stabilize LMA by in-situ constructing a dense and mixed-conductive
interfacial protective layer. The in-situ formed passivated layer not
only significantly inhibits interfacial side reactions by avoiding
direct contact between LMA and electrolyte but also effectively
suppresses lithium dendrite growth due to its high mechanical strength.
As a result, the CuTFPAA-treated LMAs show greatly improved cycle
stability under both high current density and high areal deposition
capacity. Notably, the assembled liquid symmetrical cells with
CuTFPAA-treated LMAs can stably work for more than 3000, 5000, and 4800
h at 1.0 mA cm‒2‒1.0 mAh cm‒2, 2.0 mA cm‒2‒5.0 mAh cm‒2, and 10 mA
cm‒2‒5.0 mAh cm‒2, respectively. Furthermore, the assembled liquid full
cell with a high LiFePO4 loading (~ 16.9 mg cm‒2) shows
a significantly enhanced cycle life of 250 cycles with stable Coulombic
efficiencies (> 99.1%). Moreover, the assembled
all-solid-state lithium metal battery with a high LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2
loading (~ 5.0 mg cm‒2) also exhibits improved cycle
stability. These findings underline that the CuTFPAA-treated LMAs show
great promise for high-performance lithium metal batteries.