Long-cycling lithium-oxygen batteries enabled by tailoring Li nucleation and deposition via lithiophilic oxygen vacancy in Vo-TiO_(2)/Ti_(3)C_(2)Tx composite anodes

Uncontrollable Li dendrite growth and infinite volume fluctuation during durative plating and stripping process gravely hinder the application of metallic Li electrode in lithium-oxygen batteries.Herein,oxygen vacancy-rich TiO_(2)(Vo-TiO_(2))nanoparticles(NPs)uniformly dispersing on Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)(Vo-TiO_(2)/Ti_(3)C_(2) T_(x))with excellent lithiophilicity feature are presented as effective composite anodes,on which a dense and uniform Li growth behavior is observed.Based on electrochemical studies,mutiphysics simulation and theoretical calculation,it is found that Vo-TiO_(2) coupling with three dimensional(3 D)conductive Ti_(3)C_(2) T_(x) MXene forms highly ordered lithiophilic sites which succeed in guiding Li ions flux and adsorption,thus modulating the uniform Li nucleation and growth.As a result,this composite electrode is capable of preserving Li with high areal capacity of~10 mAh cm^(-2) without the presence of dendrites and large volume expansion.Consequently,the as-prepared Vo-TiO_(2)/Ti_(3)C_(2) T_(x)@Li anode shows outstanding performance including low voltage hysteresis(~19 mV)and superior durability(over 750 h).When assembling with the Vo-TiO_(2)/Ti_(3)C_(2) T_(x)@Li anodes,lithium-oxygen batteries also deliver enhanced cycling stability and improved rate performance.This work demonstrates the effectiveness of oxygen vacancies in guiding Li nucleating and plating behavior at initial stage and brings a promising strategy for promoting the development of advanced Li metal-based batteries.