A 3D conducting scaffold with in-situ grown lithiophilic Ni2P nanoarrays for high stability lithium metal anodes

Lithium (Li) metal is the most potential anode material for the next-generation high-energy rechargeable batteries. However, intrinsic surface unevenness and `hostless' nature of Li metal induces infinite volume effect and uncontrollable dendrite growth. Herein, we design the in-situ grown lithiophilic Ni2P nanoarrays inside nickel foam (PNF). Uniform Ni2P nanoarrays coating presents a very low nucleation overpotential, which induces the homogeneous Li deposition in the entire spaces of three-dimensional (3D) metal framework. Specifically, the lithiophilic Ni2P nanoarrays possess characteristics of electrical conductivity and structural stability, which have almost no expansion and damage during repeating Li plating/stripping. Therefore, they chronically inhibit the growth of Li dendrites. This results in an outstanding Coulombic efficiency (CE) of 98% at 3 mA cm(2) and an ultralong cycling life over 2000 cycles with a low overpotential. Consequently, the PNF-Li parallel to LiFePO4 battery maintains a capacity retention of 95.3% with a stable CE of 99.9% over 500 cycles at 2C. (C) 2020 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The in-situ grown lithiophilic Ni2P nanoarrays inside nickel foam can effectively inhibit the growth of lithium dendrites, thus improving the cycling life and Coulombic efficiency of the battery.