A Porous Li-Al Alloy Anode toward High-Performance Sulfide-Based All-Solid-State Lithium Batteries.

Zhu, Jinhui; Luo, Jiayao; Li, Jingyan; Huang, Senhe; Geng, Haozhe; Chen, Zhenying; Jia, Linan; Fu, Yongzhu et al. · Adv Mater · 2024

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Compared to lithium (Li) anode, the alloy/Li-alloy anodes show more compatible with sulfide solid electrolytes (SSEs), and are promising candidates for practical SSE-based all-solid-state Li batteries (ASSLBs). In this work, a porous Li-Al alloy (LiAl-p) anode is crafted using a straightforward mechanical pressing method. Various characterizations confirm the porous nature of such anode, as well as rich oxygen species on its surface. To the best knowledge, such LiAl-p anode demonstrates the best room temperature cell performance in comparison with reported Li and alloy/Li-alloy anodes in SSE-based ASSLBs. For example, the LiAl-p symmetric cells deliver a record critical current density of 6.0 mA cm<sup>-2</sup> and an ultralong cycling of 5000 h; the LiAl-p|LiNi<sub>0.8</sub>Co<sub>0.1</sub>Mn<sub>0.1</sub>O<sub>2</sub> full cells achieve a high areal capacity of 11.9 mAh cm<sup>-2</sup> and excellent durability of 1800 cycles. Further in situ and ex situ experiments reveal that the porous structure can accommodate volume changes of LiAl-p and ensure its integrity during cycling; and moreover, a robust Li inorganics-rich solid electrolyte interphase can be formed originated from the reaction between SSE and surface oxygen species of LiAl-p. This study offers inspiration for designing high-performance alloy anodes by focusing on designing special architecture to alleviate volume change and constructing stable interphase.