Designable ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphases of three alkali metal anodes.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29632301.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-018-03466-8 and PMC identifier 5890267.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Dendrite growth of alkali metal anodes limited their lifetime for charge/discharge cycling. Here, we report near-perfect anodes of lithium, sodium, and potassium metals achieved by electrochemical polishing, which removes microscopic defects and creates ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase layers at metal surfaces for providing a homogeneous environment. Precise characterizations by AFM force probing with corroborative in-depth XPS profile analysis reveal that the ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase can be designed to have alternating inorganic-rich and organic-rich/mixed multi-layered structure, which offers mechanical property of coupled rigidity and elasticity. The polished metal anodes exhibit significantly enhanced cycling stability, specifically the lithium anodes can cycle for over 200 times at a real current density of 2 mA cm-2 with 100% depth of discharge. Our work illustrates that an ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphase may be robust enough to suppress dendrite growth and thus serve as an initial layer for further improved protection of alkali metal anodes.