In situ observation of cracking and self-healing of solid electrolyte interphases during lithium deposition

Tingting Yang; Hui Li; Yongfu Tang; Jingzhao Chen; Hongjun Ye; Baolin Wang; Yin Zhang; Congcong Du; Jingming Yao; Baiyu Guo; Tongde Shen; Liqiang Zhang; Ting Zhu; Jianyu Huang

doi:10.1016/j.scib.2021.05.002

In situ observation of cracking and self-healing of solid electrolyte interphases during lithium deposition

Sci Bull (Beijing). 2021 Sep 15;66(17):1754-1763. doi: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.05.002. Epub 2021 May 5.

Authors

Tingting Yang¹, Hui Li¹, Yongfu Tang², Jingzhao Chen¹, Hongjun Ye¹, Baolin Wang³, Yin Zhang³, Congcong Du¹, Jingming Yao¹, Baiyu Guo¹, Tongde Shen¹, Liqiang Zhang⁴, Ting Zhu⁵, Jianyu Huang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Clean Nano Energy Center, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
² Clean Nano Energy Center, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China; Hebei Key Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
³ Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA.
⁴ Clean Nano Energy Center, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China; State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁶ Clean Nano Energy Center, State Key Laboratory of Metastable Materials Science and Technology, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China; Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials and Application Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan 411105, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 36654383
DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2021.05.002

Abstract

The growth of lithium (Li) whiskers is detrimental to Li batteries. However, it remains a challenge to directly track Li whisker growth. Here we report in situ observations of electrochemically induced Li deposition under a CO₂ atmosphere inside an environmental transmission electron microscope. We find that the morphology of individual Li deposits is strongly influenced by the competing processes of cracking and self-healing of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). When cracking overwhelms self-healing, the directional growth of Li whiskers predominates. In contrast, when self-healing dominates over cracking, the isotropic growth of round Li particles prevails. The Li deposition rate and SEI constituent can be tuned to control the Li morphologies. We reveal a new "weak-spot" mode of Li dendrite growth, which is attributed to the operation of the Bardeen-Herring growth mechanism in the whisker's cross section. This work has implications for the control of Li dendrite growth in Li batteries.

Keywords: Environmental transmission electron microscopy; Lithium batteries; Lithium whisker; Solid electrolyte interphase.