Enhancing Lithium-Ion Diffusion Kinetics in a 3D Lithium Metal Host through Surface Modification with Hierarchical Multimetal Oxides

Lithium metal is a promising anode candidate to achieve high-energy-density lithium metal batteries (LMBs) due to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity (3860 mA h g –1 ) and low electrochemical potential (−3.04 V vs S.H.E). Unfortunately, the commercialization of lithium metal anodes is hindered by the growth of Li dendrites and the infinite Li volume changes during the cycling process. Herein, we introduce a 3D hierarchical multimetal oxide nanowire framework as a current collector for Li metal anodes. The hierarchical metal oxide layers of CoO and Cu x O provide abundant Li nucleation sites and thus offer uniform Li plating and regulate Li nucleation during the charge/discharge process. As a result, half cells present a prolonging Coulombic efficiency of 97% at 1 mA cm –2 with a capacity of 1 mA h cm –2 for over 300 cycles. A stable cyclability of symmetric cells is demonstrated under 1 mA cm –2 with a capacity of 1 mA h cm –2 for 1500 h. Full cells paired with an LFP cathode show a stable capacity of 131.5 mA h g –1 with a capacity retention of 92% for 200 cycles. These results will shed insights into the design of 3D Cu current collectors for high-performance composite Li metal anodes.