The faceted lithium growths

Abstract

In the recent research article by Yuan et al.¹ published in Nature, well-defined faceted lithium metal polyhedra were obtained on ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) at ultrahigh current densities, yet were surprisingly independent of the choices of electrolyte chemistry and UME materials. The use of UMEs avoids the ion depletion at the electrode-electrolyte interface, allowing the reliable acceleration of the reaction rate of lithium-ion reduction to outpace the reaction rate of formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), therefore minimizing the influence from SEIs in metal growths. This study revealed, for the first time, the chemistry-independent intrinsic morphology of lithium deposits and opened a new window of viewing the growth mechanisms of lithium plating in lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries.