Achieving Electronic Engineering of Vanadium Oxide-Based 3D Lithiophilic Sandwiched-Aerogel Framework for Ultrastable Lithium Metal Batteries

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2022-07, Vol.14 (29), p.33306-33314
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xiaomin, Jin, Danqing, Guo, Chuanyu, Ke, Longwei, Li, Na, Zhang, Xiaopei, Xu, Kui, Rui, Kun, Lin, Huijuan, Zhang, Yu, Wang, Lin, Zhu, Jixin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c08117

Lithium (Li) metal is one of the most promising anode materials for the next-generation batteries, which owns superior specific capacity and energy density. Unfortunately, lithium dendrites that is formed during the charging/discharging process tends to induce capacity degradation and thus short lifespan. In this study, the vanadium oxide (V2O5) and nitrogen-doped vanadium oxide (N–V2O3, N–VO0.9)-modified three-dimensional (3D) reduced graphene oxide ((N)–VO x @rGO) with tunable electronic properties are demonstrated to enable the dendrite-free Li deposition. The soft lithiophilic rGO as the scaffold can provide sufficient void space for Li storage. Meanwhile, the rigid (N)–VO x uniformly anchored on rGO can perfectly maintain the 3D structure, which is crucial for Li to enter the inner space of the 3D framework. Consequently, the (N)–VO x @rGO electrodes achieve dendrite-free electrodeposition under the multifarious deposition capacity and current densities. Compared with the bare lithium electrodes, the asymmetrical cells of (N)-VO x @rGO anode can cycle stably up to 400 h at 2 mA cm–2 current density, together with a low nucleation overpotential of ∼20 mV.