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Developing High‐Performance Lithium Metal Anode in Liquid Electrolytes: Challenges and Progress
Author(s) -
Li Sa,
Jiang Mengwen,
Xie Yong,
Xu Hui,
Jia Junyao,
Li Ju
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201706375
Subject(s) - electrolyte , anode , materials science , lithium (medication) , liquid metal , ionic liquid , lithium metal , graphite , electrode , metal , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , composite material , metallurgy , chemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , engineering , endocrinology , catalysis
Lithium metal anodes are potentially key for next‐generation energy‐dense batteries because of the extremely high capacity and the ultralow redox potential. However, notorious safety concerns of Li metal in liquid electrolytes have significantly retarded its commercialization: on one hand, lithium metal morphological instabilities (LMI) can cause cell shorting and even explosion; on the other hand, breaking of the grown Li arms induces the so‐called “dead Li”; furthermore, the continuous consumption of the liquid electrolyte and cycleable lithium also shortens cell life. The research community has been seeking new strategies to protect Li metal anodes and significant progress has been made in the last decade. Here, an overview of the fundamental understandings of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, conceptual models, and advanced real‐time characterizations of LMI are presented. Instructed by the conceptual models, strategies including increasing the donatable fluorine concentration (DFC) in liquid to enrich LiF component in SEI, increasing salt concentration (ionic strength) and sacrificial electrolyte additives, building artificial SEI to boost self‐healing of natural SEI, and 3D electrode frameworks to reduce current density and delay Sand's extinction are summarized. Practical challenges in competing with graphite and silicon anodes are outlined.