A self-supported, three-dimensional porous copper film as a current collector for advanced lithium metal batteries

Abstract

Li metal anodes have high capacity and low potential, however, many intrinsic problems such as the growth of Li dendrites hamper the development of Li metal batteries. Herein, we proposed a scalable approach to construct a three-dimensional (3D) porous structure on commercial Cu foil through a liquid Ga-induced alloying–dealloying strategy. The porous structure with a large surface area could effectively homogenize the Li deposition, thus alleviating the growth of Li dendrites. When the 3D porous Cu is used as the current collector, the coulombic efficiency of half cells is up to 98% over 200 cycles at 0.5 mA cm⁻², and a long cycling life surpassing 700 h at 0.5 mA cm⁻² is obtained in symmetric cells. Besides, full cells with a LiFePO₄ cathode exhibit good cycling stability and excellent rate capability. Our findings provide a innovative strategy to fabricate advanced current collectors and solve the problem of Li metal batteries.