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Constructing a lithiophilic polyaniline coating via in situ polymerization for dendrite-free lithium metal anode

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Abstract

Metallic lithium is regarded as one of the most promising electrode materials to break through the energy density bottleneck of current commercial lithium-ion batteries. However, the practical implementation of lithium metal anode is limited by the unstable electrode interface significantly, which directly induces a low Coulombic efficiency, short cycling lifespan, and dendritic lithium growth behavior. In this study, via in situ electropolymerization, lithiophilic and conformal polyaniline layer is developed to improve the initial lithium nucleation and plating process, reducing the interface charge transfer resistance and promoting uniform lithium plating/stripping behavior. Meanwhile, the polyaniline layer exhibits good adhesion to the substrate. As a result, the Li/Cu half cell delivers a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.1% for 400 cycles at 1.0 mA·cm−2 with polyaniline layer. In addition, long-term stable cycling at a current density of 1.0 mA·cm−2 for 1300 h has been achieved for lithium metal anode. This strategy provides a new perspective for the practical lithium metal batteries.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2021YFB2400400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52073143, Key Project (No. 52131306), Distinguished Youth Scientists Project (No. 51425301)), the State Key Lab Research Foundation (Nos. ZK201805 and ZK201717), the Project on Carbon Emission Peak and Neutrality of Jiangsu Province (No. BE2022031-4), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Nos. BK20200696, BK20200768, and 20KJB430019), and the Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. KYCX20_1072).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Xiaosong Xiong, Xinbing Cheng & Yuping Wu

  2. School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Qiao Qiao

  3. School of Energy Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Materials-Oriented Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Qi Zhou, Lili Liu, Lijun Fu, Yuhui Chen & Yuping Wu

  4. National Energy Novel Materials Center Institute of Chemical Materials (ICM), China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Mianyang, 621900, China

    Bin Wang & Yuping Wu

  5. Hunan Yinfeng New Energy Co., Ltd., Changsha, 430019, China

    Xiongwei Wu

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  1. Xiaosong Xiong
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  2. Qiao Qiao
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  3. Qi Zhou
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  5. Lili Liu
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  8. Bin Wang
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Correspondence to Xiongwei Wu or Yuping Wu.

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Xiong, X., Qiao, Q., Zhou, Q. et al. Constructing a lithiophilic polyaniline coating via in situ polymerization for dendrite-free lithium metal anode. Nano Res. 16, 8448–8456 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5370-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5370-7

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