Facile Generation of Polymer-Alloy Hybrid Layers for Dendrite-Free Lithium-Metal Anodes with Improved Moisture Stability

Lithium-metal anodes are recognized as the most promising next-generation anodes for high-energy-storage batteries. However, lithium dendrites lead to irreversible capacity decay in lithium-metal batteries (LMBs). Besides, the strict assembly-environment conditions of LMBs are regarded as a challenge for practical applications. In this study, a workable lithium-metal anode with an artificial hybrid layer composed of a polymer and an alloy was designed and prepared by a simple chemical-modification strategy. Treated lithium anodes remained dendrite-free for over 1000 h in a Li-Li symmetric cell and exhibited outstanding cycle performance in high-areal-loading Li-S and Li-LiFePO4 full cells. Moreover, the treated lithium showed improved moisture stability that benefits from the hydrophobicity of the polymer, thus retaining good electrochemical performance after exposure to humid air.