Constructing ultrafine lithiophilic layer on MXene paper by sputtering for stable and flexible 3D lithium metal anode

Lithium metal is the most attractive and promising anode for next-generation high energy batteries. However, uncontrollable dendrite growth of lithium remains a detrimental safety challenge. To tackle this problem, a 3D flexible MXene@Au host is designed by depositing an ultra-fine and robust Au layer on MXene paper via ionsputtering. The Au layer acts as lithiophilic nuclear agent to ensure homogeneous lithium deposition and suppress the lithium dendrites growth. The as-prepared flexible 3D MXene@Au@Li anode shows significantly enhanced performance. Full lithium metal cell with LFP cathode delivers high capacity retention of 98.47% even after 200 cycles with good rate capability. These results may be useful for other metallic battery system and has potential applications in sensors, super-capacitor and catalyst etc.

Automated summary

A 3D flexible MXene@Au host has been designed to address the issue of lithium dendrite growth in lithium metal batteries, showing significantly improved performance with high capacity retention even after 200 cycles.