A Hierarchical Silver‐Nanowire–Graphene Host Enabling Ultrahigh Rates and Superior Long‐Term Cycling of Lithium‐Metal Composite Anodes

Metallic lithium (Li) is a promising anode for next‐generation high‐energy‐density batteries, but its applications are still hampered due to the limited charging/discharging rate and poor cycling performance. Here, a hierarchical 3D porous architecture is designed with a binary network of continuous silver nanowires assembled on an interconnected 3D graphene skeleton as the host for Li‐metal composite anodes, which offers a significant boost in both charging/discharging rates and long‐term cycling performance for Li‐metal batteries. This unique hierarchical binary network structure in conjunction with optimized material combination provides ultrafast, continuous, and smooth electron transportation channel and non‐nucleation barrier sites to direct and confine Li deposition. It also offers outstanding mechanical strength and toughness to support massive Li deposition and buffer the internal stress fluctuations during long‐term repeated Li stripping/plating thereby minimizing fundamental issues of dendrite formation and volume change even under ultrafast charging/discharging rates. As a result, the composite anode using this hierarchical host can work smoothly at an unprecedented high current density of 40 mA cm‐2 over 1000 plating/stripping cycles with low overpotential (<120 mV) in symmetric cells. The as‐constructed full cell, paired with LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 cathode, also exhibits excellent rate capability and high‐rate cycling stability.

[1]  Lei Fan,et al.  Stable Lithium Electrodeposition at Ultra‐High Current Densities Enabled by 3D PMF/Li Composite Anode , 2018 .

[2]  Yang Sun,et al.  Lowering Internal Friction of 0D–1D–2D Ternary Nanocomposite‐Based Strain Sensor by Fullerene to Boost the Sensing Performance , 2018 .

[3]  Rui Zhang,et al.  Coralloid Carbon Fiber-Based Composite Lithium Anode for Robust Lithium Metal Batteries , 2018 .

[4]  Hui Xu,et al.  Developing High‐Performance Lithium Metal Anode in Liquid Electrolytes: Challenges and Progress , 2018, Advanced materials.

[5]  Weiyuan Deng,et al.  Microscale Lithium Metal Stored inside Cellular Graphene Scaffold toward Advanced Metallic Lithium Anodes , 2018 .

[6]  M. Winter,et al.  Performance and cost of materials for lithium-based rechargeable automotive batteries , 2018 .

[7]  Qiang Zhang,et al.  3D TiC/C Core/Shell Nanowire Skeleton for Dendrite‐Free and Long‐Life Lithium Metal Anode , 2018 .

[8]  K. Yuan,et al.  Suppressing Dendritic Lithium Formation Using Porous Media in Lithium Metal-Based Batteries. , 2018, Nano letters.

[9]  Minhuan Lan,et al.  Lithiophilic Cu‐CuO‐Ni Hybrid Structure: Advanced Current Collectors Toward Stable Lithium Metal Anodes , 2018, Advanced materials.

[10]  Kyeongjae Cho,et al.  2D MoS2 as an efficient protective layer for lithium metal anodes in high-performance Li–S batteries , 2018, Nature Nanotechnology.

[11]  Qiangfeng Xiao,et al.  Fabrication of Hybrid Silicate Coatings by a Simple Vapor Deposition Method for Lithium Metal Anodes , 2018 .

[12]  F. Kang,et al.  Directing lateral growth of lithium dendrites in micro-compartmented anode arrays for safe lithium metal batteries , 2018, Nature Communications.

[13]  Allen Pei,et al.  Stitching h-BN by atomic layer deposition of LiF as a stable interface for lithium metal anode , 2017, Science Advances.

[14]  Yonggang Yao,et al.  Ultrafine Silver Nanoparticles for Seeded Lithium Deposition toward Stable Lithium Metal Anode , 2017, Advanced materials.

[15]  Jun Li,et al.  3D Printing Hierarchical Silver Nanowire Aerogel with Highly Compressive Resilience and Tensile Elongation through Tunable Poisson's Ratio. , 2017, Small.

[16]  Yanwu Zhu,et al.  High Areal Capacity and Lithium Utilization in Anodes Made of Covalently Connected Graphite Microtubes , 2017, Advanced materials.

[17]  Yayuan Liu,et al.  Ultrahigh–current density anodes with interconnected Li metal reservoir through overlithiation of mesoporous AlF3 framework , 2017, Science Advances.

[18]  Ya‐Xia Yin,et al.  Graphitized Carbon Fibers as Multifunctional 3D Current Collectors for High Areal Capacity Li Anodes , 2017, Advanced materials.

[19]  Ya‐Xia Yin,et al.  Advanced Porous Carbon Materials for High‐Efficient Lithium Metal Anodes , 2017 .

[20]  Q. Pei,et al.  Rollerball‐Pen‐Drawing Technology for Extremely Foldable Paper‐Based Electronics , 2017 .

[21]  P. Ajayan,et al.  Three-Dimensional Printed Graphene Foams. , 2017, ACS nano.

[22]  L. Qu,et al.  Vertically Aligned Graphene Sheets Membrane for Highly Efficient Solar Thermal Generation of Clean Water. , 2017, ACS nano.

[23]  Yi Cui,et al.  Three-dimensional stable lithium metal anode with nanoscale lithium islands embedded in ionically conductive solid matrix , 2017, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[24]  Yi Cui,et al.  Reviving the lithium metal anode for high-energy batteries. , 2017, Nature nanotechnology.

[25]  Sen Xin,et al.  Carbon Nanostructures: Covalently Connected Carbon Nanostructures for Current Collectors in Both the Cathode and Anode of Li–S Batteries (Adv. Mater. 41/2016) , 2016 .

[26]  Yan‐Bing He,et al.  Chemical Dealloying Derived 3D Porous Current Collector for Li Metal Anodes , 2016, Advanced materials.

[27]  Yayuan Liu,et al.  Layered reduced graphene oxide with nanoscale interlayer gaps as a stable host for lithium metal anodes. , 2016, Nature nanotechnology.

[28]  Jin Ge,et al.  Free-Standing Copper Nanowire Network Current Collector for Improving Lithium Anode Performance. , 2016, Nano letters.

[29]  Yayuan Liu,et al.  Lithium-coated polymeric matrix as a minimum volume-change and dendrite-free lithium metal anode , 2016, Nature Communications.

[30]  Xin-Bing Cheng,et al.  Conductive Nanostructured Scaffolds Render Low Local Current Density to Inhibit Lithium Dendrite Growth , 2016, Advanced materials.

[31]  Hyun-Wook Lee,et al.  Selective deposition and stable encapsulation of lithium through heterogeneous seeded growth , 2016, Nature Energy.

[32]  B. Wiley,et al.  Synthesis and Purification of Silver Nanowires To Make Conducting Films with a Transmittance of 99%. , 2015, Nano letters.

[33]  Rui Zhang,et al.  Dual-Phase Lithium Metal Anode Containing a Polysulfide-Induced Solid Electrolyte Interphase and Nanostructured Graphene Framework for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. , 2015, ACS nano.

[34]  Guangyuan Zheng,et al.  Polymer nanofiber-guided uniform lithium deposition for battery electrodes. , 2015, Nano letters.

[35]  O. Borodin,et al.  High rate and stable cycling of lithium metal anode , 2015, Nature Communications.

[36]  S. Chu,et al.  Ultrathin two-dimensional atomic crystals as stable interfacial layer for improvement of lithium metal anode. , 2014, Nano letters.

[37]  Liang Xu,et al.  Macroscopic free-standing hierarchical 3D architectures assembled from silver nanowires by ice templating. , 2014, Angewandte Chemie.

[38]  Ji‐Guang Zhang,et al.  Lithium metal anodes for rechargeable batteries , 2014 .

[39]  Jae-Hun Kim,et al.  Metallic anodes for next generation secondary batteries. , 2013, Chemical Society reviews.

[40]  Zhibin Yu,et al.  Elastomeric polymer light-emitting devices and displays , 2013, Nature Photonics.

[41]  A. Majumdar,et al.  Opportunities and challenges for a sustainable energy future , 2012, Nature.

[42]  Jean-Marie Tarascon,et al.  Li-O2 and Li-S batteries with high energy storage. , 2011, Nature materials.

[43]  Daniel Lemordant,et al.  Comparative study of EC/DMC LiTFSI and LiPF 6 electrolytes for electrochemical storage , 2011 .

[44]  L. Nazar,et al.  Advances in Li–S batteries , 2010 .

[45]  Yan Wang,et al.  Molecular‐Level Dispersion of Graphene into Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Effective Reinforcement of their Nanocomposites , 2009 .

[46]  L. Krause,et al.  Corrosion of aluminum at high voltages in non-aqueous electrolytes containing perfluoroalkylsulfonyl imides; new lithium salts for lithium-ion cells , 1997 .

[47]  Yi Cui,et al.  The path towards sustainable energy. , 2016, Nature materials.