Molten lithium-filled three-dimensional hollow carbon tube mats for stable lithium metal anodes

Abstract

Lithium (Li) metal is regarded as an ideal anode for the next-generation high-energy-density Li-ion batteries. However, its practical application has been seriously hindered by the dendrite growth and volume change during charge/discharge cycling. Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) hollow carbon tube (HCT) mat is fabricated from natural willow catkins to form HCT/Li composite through a scalable molten infusion method. The intrinsic heteroatoms endow the HCTs with excellent lithiophilicity, and molten Li can be impregnated into the 3D HCT mat easily via capillary driving force. As a result, a uniform Li plating/stripping and stable Li composite anode were demonstrated, delivering 500 stable cycles at 2 mA cm-2. Furthermore, a full cell using a commercial lithium iron phosphate cathode achieves excellent cycling stability above 250 cycles at a high rate of 5 C (1 C = 170 mAh g-1). This work sheds light on a facile and practical method to construct a stable Li metal anode for remarkable Li metal rechargeable batteries.