Organic nano carbon source inducing 3D silica nanoparticles-graphene nanosheet layer on Cu current collector for high-performance anode-free lithium metal batteries

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Anode-free lithium metal batteries (AFLBs) have attracted considerable attention due to their high theoretical specific capacity and absence of Li. However, the heterogeneous Li deposition and stripping on the lithiophobic Cu collector hamper AFLBs in practice. To achieve a uniform and reversible Li deposition, a carbon-based layer on the Cu collector has attracted intense interest due to its high conductivity. However, the 2D single-component carbon-based interface is inadequate lithiophilic for obtaining the homogeneous Li deposition and preventing the lithium dendrite from piercing the separator. Herein, we present a 3D embedded lithiophilic SiO2 nanoparticles-graphene nanosheet matrix (SiO2@G-M) on the Cu collector by organic nano carbon source. In this structure, the lithiophilic SiO2 nanoparticles as active points promote the homogeneous lithium nucleation and the 3D graphene nanosheet matrix offers homogenous electron distribution and voids to prevent the piercing. Finally, SiO2@G-M/Li cell shows a high coulombic efficiency of 98.62 % after 100 cycles at a high current density of 2 mA cm−2 with an areal capacity of 1 mAh cm−2.