Early Lithium Plating Behavior in Confined Nanospace of 3D Lithiophilic Carbon Matrix for Stable Solid-State Lithium Metal Batteries

Considerable efforts are devoted to relieve the critical lithium dendritic and volume change problems in the lithium metal anode. Constructing uniform Li⁺ distribution and lithium "host" are shown to be the most promising strategies to drive practical lithium metal anode development. Herein, a uniform Li nucleation/growth behavior in a confined nanospace is verified by constructing vertical graphene on a 3D commercial copper mesh. The difference of solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) composition and lithium growth behavior in the confined nanospace is further demonstrated by in-depth X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS) and line-scan energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic (EDS) methods. As a result, a high Columbic efficiency of 97% beyond 250 cycles at a current density of 2 mA cm^-2 and a prolonged lifespan of symmetrical cell (500 cycles at 5 mA cm^-2 ) can be easily achieved. More meaningfully, the solid-state lithium metal cell paired with the composite lithium anode and LiNi_0.5 Co_0.2 Mn_0.3 O₂ (NCM) as the cathode also demonstrate reduced polarization and extended cycle. The present confined nanospace-derived hybrid anode can further promote the development of future all solid-state lithium metal batteries.