Lithiophilic 3D Porous CuZn Current Collector for Stable Lithium-Metal Batteries

Lithium (Li) dendrites formed from nonuniform Li deposition during battery charge and discharge processes limit potential uses of Li metal as anode material. Here, we report synthesis of a novel lithiophilic 3D porous CuZn current collector that mitigates dendrite formation and realizes the high stability of Li anodes. As opposed to the common metal current collector of copper (Cu), calculations and in-situ experiments demonstrate that copper zinc (CuZn) alloys found in commercially available brass are lithiophilic and promote uniform Li deposition. Facile dealloying methods are applied to provide sufficient Li deposition and volume expansion space in brass sheets. Residual CuZn alloys in the framework of these 3D porous CuZn current collectors are found to induce uniform Li deposition and stabilize Li dendrite growth. The optimal current collector operation is occurred after dealloying for 2 hours (2h-3D CuZn) and operated smoothly over 1000 h at 0.5 mA cm-2 with improved coulombic efficiencies at high c...