Abstract
Lithium (Li) is a promising battery anode because of its high theoretical capacity and low reduction potential, but safety hazards that arise from its continuous dendrite growth and huge volume changes limit its practical applications. Li can be hosted in a framework material to address these key issues, but methods to encage Li inside scaffolds remain challenging. The melt infusion of molten Li into substrates has attracted enormous attention in both academia and industry because it provides an industrially adoptable technology capable of fabricating composite Li anodes. In this review, the wetting mechanism driving the spread of liquefied Li toward a substrate is discussed. Following this, various strategies are proposed to engineer stable Li metal composite anodes that are suitable for liquid and solid‐state electrolytes. A general conclusion and a perspective on the current limitations and possible future research directions for constructing composite Li anodes for high‐energy lithium metal batteries are presented.
Highlights
Technology capable of fabricating composite Li anodes
Li-LMO cells have a high theoretical gravimetric energy density of 440 Wh kg−1, which is double that of cells based on graphite anodes (250 Wh kg−1)
Wettability is a key property of material surfaces, and it plays a crucial role in preparing composite Li anodes via melt infusion strategies
Summary
Wettability is a key property of material surfaces, and it plays a crucial role in preparing composite Li anodes via melt infusion strategies. Where γT denotes the surface tension at temperature T, γm is the surface tension at the melting point, Tm refers to the melting point, T denotes the heating temperature, and dγ/dT < 0 Heteroatomic doping is another feasible strategy to regulate the wettability of molten metals.[40] Because the bonding force between the heteroatoms and Li is smaller than that of Li–Li, introducing a trace amount of elemental additives to pure metals to form alloys or compounds can reduce the interior atomic interactions to decrease the surface tension (Figure 1c). The spreading of molten metals is greatly determined by their surface tension, which can be decreased by increasing the external temperature or by decreasing interior atomic interactions by introducing elemental additives to form alloys or compounds
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