Adjustable Mixed Conductive Interphase for Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Batteries

Lithium (Li) metal batteries with high energy density are of great promise for next-generation energy storage; however, they suffer from severe Li dendritic growth and an unstable solid electrolyte interphase. In this study, a mixed ionic and electronic conductive (MIEC) interphase layer with an adjustable ratio assembled by ZnO and Zn nanoparticles is developed. During the initial cycle, the in situ formed Li2O with high ionic conductivity and a lithiophilic LiZn alloy with high electronic conductivity enable fast Li+ transportation in the interlayer and charge transfer at the ion/electron conductive junction, respectively. The optimized interface kinetics is achieved by balancing the ion migration and charge transfer in the MIEC Li2O-LiZn interphase. As a result, the symmetric cell with MIEC interphase delivers superior cycling stability of over 1200 h. Also, Li||Zn-ZnO@PP||LFP (LFP = LiFePO4) full cells exhibit long cyclic life for 2000 cycles with a very high capacity retention of 91.5% at a high rate of 5 C and stable cycling for 350 cycles at a high LFP loading mass of 13.27 mg cm(-2).

Automated summary

A mixed ionic and electronic conductive (MIEC) interphase layer with an adjustable ratio assembled by ZnO and Zn nanoparticles is developed to achieve optimized interface kinetics, improving the cycling stability and capacity retention of lithium metal batteries.