Dinitride-free Li plating/stripping via lithiophilic seeds in a 3D matrix for enhanced Li-metal battery stability

The uncontrolled dendrite growth and volume change of Li metal during cycling lead to a short cycle life and safety concerns for Li-metal batteries,which hinders their practical application.Herein,we report the facile and energy-saving production of a three-dimensional(3D)CuZn matrix decorated with in-situ formed ZnO nano seeds(ZnO NS@3D CuZn)in pores and tunnels,which can serve as an anode current collector for dendrite-free Li-metal batteries.The 3D porous framework reduced the anode current density and accommodated Li volume change during the charge/discharge process.More importantly,the lithiophilic ZnO nano seeds induced fast Li deposition into the pores and tunnels of the 3D structure to effectively confine the deposited Li.As a positive effect,the volume change and Li dendrite growth during cycling are greatly suppressed.The half-cell with the ZnO NS@3D CuZn current collector exhibited a Coulombic efficiency(CE)of above 98%for over 320 and 240 cycles at 0.5 and 1 mA·cm^(-2),respectively.The Li@ZnO NS@3D CuZn symmetric cell achieves a lifespan of over 1500 h.Moreover,the Li@ZnO NS@3D CuZn||LiFePO4 full cell achieves a superb average CE of 99.4%and a long life of 600 cycles before the capacity retention rate decays to 90%.