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Facile Patterning of Laser‐Induced Graphene with Tailored Li Nucleation Kinetics for Stable Lithium‐Metal Batteries
Author(s) -
Yi Jingsi,
Chen Jiahua,
Yang Zheng,
Dai Yang,
Li Weimin,
Cui Jiang,
Ciucci Francesco,
Lu Ziheng,
Yang Chunlei
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201901796
Subject(s) - materials science , nucleation , overpotential , anode , graphene , lithium (medication) , faraday efficiency , chemical engineering , foil method , copper , cathode , composite material , electrode , nanotechnology , metallurgy , chemistry , electrochemistry , organic chemistry , medicine , engineering , endocrinology
A facile and scalable approach is reported to stabilize the lithium‐metal anode by regulating the Li nucleation and deposition kinetics with laser‐induced graphene (LIG). By processing polyimide (PI) films on copper foils with a laser, a 3D‐hierarchical composite material is constructed, consisting of a highly conductive copper substrate, a pillared array of flexible PI, and most importantly, porous LIG on the walls of the PI pillars. The high number of defects and heteroatoms present in LIG significantly lowers the Li nucleation barrier compared to the copper foil. An overpotential‐free Li nucleation process is identified at current densities lower than 0.2 mA cm −2 . Theoretical computations reveal that the defects serve as nucleation centers during the heterogeneous nucleation of lithium. By adopting such composites, ultrastable lithium‐metal anodes are obtained with high Coulombic efficiencies of ≈99%. Full lithium‐metal cells based on LiFePO 4 cathodes with a material loading of ≈15 mg cm −2 and a negative/positive ratio of 5/1 could be cycled over 250 times with a capacity loss of less than 10%. The current work highlights the importance of nucleation kinetics on the stability of metallic anodes and demonstrates a practical method toward long lasting Li‐metal batteries.