Superior Li Metal Anodes By Molecular Layer Deposition of Lithicones

Abstract

Superior Li Metal Anodes by Molecular Layer Deposition of Lithicones Xiangbo Meng*1, Kah Chun Lau*2, Xiaoxiao Han1, Hua Zhou3 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701, USA 2 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Californica State University Northridge, CA 91330, USA 3 Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439, USA* Corresponding author: xbmeng@uark.edu; kahchun.lau@csun.eduInterfaces, located between an electrode (either a cathode or an anode) and an electrolyte, are one of the most important components of rechargeable batteries. They are often determinant to batteries’ performance. In pursuing next-generation lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and beyond, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has emerged and been identified as an important tool to accurately constitute their interfaces of LIBs and beyond at the atomic scale in the past decade.1-7 ALD features its unparalleled capabilities enabling coatings conformally and uniformly at moderate temperatures. It can be performed on either battery powders or prefabricated electrodes. Complementary to inorganic coatings by ALD, polymeric coatings can be deposited by an analogous technique, molecular layer deposition (MLD),8 and recently have been investigated. Having similar merits of ALD, MLD can constitute battery interfaces with flexible polymeric films at the molecular level. In this work, we developed three new lithium-containing polymers, lithicones, using MLD. Particularly, we revealed that the MLD LiGL (GL = glycerol) is very promising as a protective coating over lithium metal anodes. The LiGL-protected lithium metal anodes could achieve superior cyclability over 6,000 cycles without having any sign of failure at 5 mA/cm2 and 1 mAh/cm2. Our experiments and density function theory calculations disclosed that the LiGL lithicone is exceptional in its properties. This work paves a new avenue for developing safety-reliable high-performance lithium metal anodes.