A scalable slurry process to fabricate CuZr amorphous alloy with hybrid lithiophilic oxides for lithium metal anode

Abstract

The lithium metal is the most promising candidate anode for the next-generation lithium batteries, its wide-scale application will be accelerated if its electrode preparation process is feasible and compatible with the current electrode preparation approach used in the battery industry. Here the powder form of CuZr metallic glass was applied for lithium metal anode application, which was one-step chemically dealloying treated in the hydrofluoric acid solution prior to usage. The as-prepared CuZr powder (CuZr-D*) displays enlarged specific surface area with hybrid lithiophilic CuxO/ZrO2 oxides decorated on the surface, which is capable to induce homogenous nucleation, promote fast reaction kinetics, and improve the reversible lithium plating/stripping process. Moreover, the CuZr in powder form makes it easily accessible with the slurry-based electrode preparation process currently applied in battery industry. As a result, the CuZr-D* based electrode demonstrates good symmetric cell performance of 1500 h at 1.0 mA cm−2/1.0 mAh cm−2, high coulombic efficiency of 97.5% after 200 cycles at 0.5 mA cm−2/1.0 mAh cm−2, cyclic stability and rate capability of full cells. This work supports the potential feasibility of amorphous alloy powder for lithium metal battery application.