Lithium metal anodes have been plagued for decades due to the dendrite-growth problem that could result in a battery thermal runaway. The previous surface-protection strategies fall short of the mark to fundamentally address the problem.Here, we introduce spatially heterogeneous three dimensional (3D) current collectors to address the challenge. The spatial heterogeneity in terms of conductivity was introduced by a line-of-sight deposition of a SiO2 layer onto the current collector. As b,d  shows, the unique structure prevents a lithium deposition on the insulating electrolyte-facing surface and helps accommodate lithium infiltration inside the spacious voids, in the contrast to the situation, schematically shown in a,c . A high lithium cycling efficiency of 94% was achieved over deep deposition (14.4 C cm-2) and stripping cycles in an EC-DEC electrolyte. This strategy opens new avenues to address the dendrite problem by rationally designed current collectors.

Surface dendrite-free lithium metal anode via spatially heterogeneous 3D current collectors

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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