Tailoring uniform and ordered grain boundaries in the solid electrolyte interphase for dendrite-free lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Lithium (Li) metal is recognized as the ‘Holy Grail’ anode for next-generation high-energy-density rechargeable batteries, but its commercial application is critically blocked by the uncontrollable growth of Li dendrite. To suppress the growth of Li dendrite, the most effective solution is to elaborately construct the stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film consisting of nanocrystal inorganic compounds, which can form numerous grain boundaries (GBs) that are mainly responsible for the transport of Li+ ions based on the theory calculations. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of sufficient understanding of the role of GBs in the SEI film owing to the difficulty in the GB characterization. In this minireview, we concisely summarize recent research progress in this field and propose possible research directions on SEI GBs tuning for further development of high-energy-density rechargeable Li metal batteries (LMBs). We anticipate that uniform and ordered SEI GBs can be tailored for dendrite-free LMBs in the near future.