Facile design of alloy-based hybrid layer to stabilize lithium metal anode

Abstract

Lithium (Li) metal has been considered a promising anode candidate for next-generation energy-storage applications due to its ultrahigh capacity. However, the uncontrolled dendrite growth and continuous side reactions challenge the cycle life and practical application. Herein, by a facile and mild solution method, we build a compact LiZn alloy-based hybrid layer on the Li-metal surface. This hybrid layer exhibits favorable chemical stability, excellent wettability to electrolyte, and enhanced thermodynamic affinity to Li. As a result, the hybrid layer modified lihtium metal anode (HL-Li) enables accelerated Li-ion diffusion kinetics and dense Li deposition. Through the operando cell evaluation, moreover, we demonstrate that the hybrid layer restricts the Li dendrite growth of Li metal anodes effectively by reducing the volume expansion to half. Endowed with both thermodynamic and kinetic superiority, HL-Li exhibits low overpotential and prolonged cycles in both symmetric cells and full cells. Our work confirms the lithiophilic hybrid layer obtained by a facile solution process to enable dendrite-free deposition, providing a guidance for the synthesis of high-performance Li metal anode materials.