Designable ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte interphases of three alkali metal anodes

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 1339 - 9
• Main Authors: Gu, Yu, Wang, Wei-Wei, Li, Yi-Juan, Wu, Qi-Hui, Tang, Shuai, Yan, Jia-Wei, Zheng, Ming-Sen, Wu, De-Yin, Fan, Chun-Hai, Hu, Wei-Qiang, Chen, Zhao-Bin, Fang, Yuan, Zhang, Qing-Hong, Dong, Quan-Feng, Mao, Bing-Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 09.04.2018; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 140/146; 147/135; 147/3; 639/4077/4079/891; 639/638/161; Alkali metals; Anodes; Anodic protection; Atomic force microscopy; Chemical polishing; Cycles; Dendrites; Dendritic structure; Discharge; Elasticity; Electrochemistry; Electrolytes; Electropolishing; Humanities and Social Sciences; Interphase; Lithium; Metal surfaces; Metals; multidisciplinary; Multilayers; Rigidity; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sodium; Thin films; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Dendrite growth of alkali metal anodes limited their lifetime for charge/discharge cycling. Here, we report near-perfect anodes of lithium, sodium, and potassium metals achieved by electrochemical polishing, which removes microscopic defects and creates ultra-smooth ultra-thin solid-electrolyte inte...