Issue 36, 2017

Surface graphited carbon scaffold enables simple and scalable fabrication of 3D composite lithium metal anode

Abstract

Lithium metal is the most promising anode material due to its high specific capacity (∼3860 mA h g−1) and low electrochemical potential (−3.04 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode). However, lithium dendrite growth, low coulombic efficiency (CE) and the infinite relative volume change during lithium plating/striping cycles have severely limited its practical applications. Using a composite lithium metal anode fabricated by melt infusion of lithium is employed as an effective method to solve the aforementioned issues, but the fabrication process is always complicated and it is difficult to realize large-scale production. Herein, we demonstrate a simple and scalable method to fabricate a composite Li structure. By heat treatment at 1200 °C, a common carbon matrix turns into a surface graphited carbon scaffold, which possesses good Li affinity and can be used to fabricate a three-dimensional (3D) composite Li anode by Li melt infusion. The one-step method makes it easy to realize scalable and cheap production of a lithium affinity scaffold. We achieved stable cycling of the lithium metal anode for 100 cycles at a high current density of 3 mA cm−2 in a carbonate electrolyte. The full-cell batteries with the 3D composite Li anode also delivered better rate and cycling performance than those with a bare Li anode.

Graphical abstract: Surface graphited carbon scaffold enables simple and scalable fabrication of 3D composite lithium metal anode

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Jul 2017
Accepted
16 Aug 2017
First published
16 Aug 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 19168-19174

Surface graphited carbon scaffold enables simple and scalable fabrication of 3D composite lithium metal anode

J. Lang, Y. Jin, X. Luo, Z. Liu, J. Song, Y. Long, L. Qi, M. Fang, Z. Li and H. Wu, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 19168 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA05997C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements