Tuning wettability of molten lithium via a chemical strategy for lithium metal anodes

Metallic lithium affords the highest theoretical capacity and lowest electrochemical potential and is viewed as a leading contender as an anode for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries. However, the poor wettability of molten lithium does not allow it to spread across the surface of lithiophob...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2019-10, Vol.10 (1), p.4930-8, Article 4930
Main Authors: Wang, Shu-Hua, Yue, Junpei, Dong, Wei, Zuo, Tong-Tong, Li, Jin-Yi, Liu, Xiaolong, Zhang, Xu-Dong, Liu, Lin, Shi, Ji-Lei, Yin, Ya-Xia, Guo, Yu-Guo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
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Additives
Alkali metals
Anodes
Batteries
Chemical bonds
Electrochemical analysis
Electrochemical potential
Electrochemistry
Free energy
Heat of formation
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lithium
Lithium batteries
multidisciplinary
Organic chemistry
Organic coatings
Potassium
Rechargeable batteries
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Sodium
Strategy
Substrates
Tuning
Wettability
Wetting
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Summary:Metallic lithium affords the highest theoretical capacity and lowest electrochemical potential and is viewed as a leading contender as an anode for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries. However, the poor wettability of molten lithium does not allow it to spread across the surface of lithiophobic substrates, hindering the production and application of this anode. Here we report a general chemical strategy to overcome this dilemma by reacting molten lithium with functional organic coatings or elemental additives. The Gibbs formation energy and newly formed chemical bonds are found to be the governing factor for the wetting behavior. As a result of the improved wettability, a series of ultrathin lithium of 10–20 μm thick is obtained together with impressive electrochemical performance in lithium metal batteries. These findings provide an overall guide for tuning the wettability of molten lithium and offer an affordable strategy for the large-scale production of ultrathin lithium, and could be further extended to other alkali metals, such as sodium and potassium. Molten lithium cannot spread onto the lithiophobic substrate, hindering the production and application of lithium metal anodes. Here, the authors show a general chemical strategy to tune the wettability by forming new chemical bonds through the reactions with various organic coatings or elemental additives.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-019-12938-4