Directing (110) Oriented Lithium Deposition through High-flux Solid Electrolyte Interphase for Dendrite-free Lithium Metal Batteries.

Abstract

Controlling lithium (Li) electrocrystallization with preferred orientation is a promising strategy to realize highly reversible Li metal batteries (LMBs) but lack of facile regulation methods. Herein, we report a high-flux solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) strategy to direct (110) preferred Li deposition even on (200)-orientated Li substrate. Bravais rule and Curie-Wulff principle are expanded in Li electrocrystallization process to decouple the relationship between SEI engineering and preferred crystal orientation. Multi-spectroscopic techniques combined with dynamics analysis reveal that the high-flux CF3 Si(CH3 )3 (F3 ) induced SEI (F3 -SEI) with high LiF and -Si(CH3 )3 contents can ingeniously accelerate Li+ transport dynamics and ensure the sufficient Li+ concentration below SEI to direct Li (110) orientation. The induced Li (110) can in turn further promote the surface migration of Li atoms to avoid tip aggregation, resulting in a planar, dendrite-free morphology of Li. As a result, our F3 -SEI enables ultra-long stability of Li||Li symmetrical cells for more than 336 days. Furthermore, F3 -SEI modified Li can significantly enhance the cycle life of Li||LiFePO4 and Li||NCM811 coin and pouch full cells in practical conditions. Our crystallographic strategy for Li dendrite suppression paves a path to achieve reliable LMBs and may provide guidance for the preferred orientation of other metal crystals.