A robust and lithiophilic three-dimension framework of CoO nanorod arrays on carbon cloth for cycling-stable lithium metal anodes

Lithium metal has been regarded as the promising and attractive anode material for future energy storage. However, the development of lithium metal batteries has been severely hindered from largescale commercial applications because of uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth and low coulombic efficiency, which may lead to short cycle life and safety hazard. Herein, we report a composite Li anode by prestoring lithium into highly ordered CoO nanorod array-decorated commercial carbon cloth (CC) through a thermal infusion strategy. Not only can the lithiophilicity of CC be improved by the CoO nanorod, but also the local current inhomogeneity can be decreased. As a stable 3-dimension (3D) framework, it can suppress the dendrite formation effectively. In comparison with bare Li, the CoO@CC-Li anode shows more stable cycling performance in symmetric cells with small overpotential at different current densities. The good cycling performance and rate capability in the full cell against the LiFePO4 cathode also prove its advancement for practical applications. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.