Lithiophilic and Antioxidative Copper Current Collectors for Highly Stable Lithium Metal Batteries

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 31; no. 15
• Main Authors: Fu, Ang, Wang, Chaozhi, Peng, Jian, Su, Min, Pei, Fei, Cui, Jingqin, Fang, Xiaoliang, Li, Jian‐Feng, Zheng, Nanfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2021
• Subjects: Accumulators; Anodes; Collectors; Copper; copper current collectors; Lithium batteries; lithium metal anodes; Materials science; nanoarchitectures; Nanowires; Oxidation; rechargeable batteries; surface oxidation
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202009805

Designing copper (Cu) current collectors is a convenient way to stabilize lithium (Li) metal anodes. However, Cu current collectors and their derived Li/Cu anodes still face several obstacles, including lithiophobic and oxidizable Cu surface, cumbersome anode fabrication process, and low Li utilization. Here, a formate‐treatment strategy is presented to reconstruct Cu current collectors with a passivation layer covered Cu(110) surface. This method can easily be generalized to increase the lithiophilicity and oxidation resistibility of Cu current collectors. Using the formate‐treated Cu nanowire network as an anode current collector, the full cell consisting of a LiFePO4 cathode and Li/Cu anode with a low negative/positive capacity ratio delivers an excellent cycling performance with 74.8% capacity retention after 1000 cycles at 1 C. In addition, a concept of an upper current collector is introduced to simplify the manufacturing procedure of Li/Cu anodes. This work provides new insights into the design and construction of high‐performance Li/Cu anodes. A formate‐treatment method is proposed to reconstruct copper current collectors with a passivation layer covered Cu(110) surface. Benefiting from the enhanced lithiophilicity and inoxidizability, the formate‐treated copper current collectors can guide dendrite‐free lithium deposition at high current densities and remarkably improve the cycling stabilities of lithium metal batteries.