A “Master Curve” Describing Reaction Inhomogeneity and Plating Onset during Fast-Charging of Graphite Electrodes

Lithium plating in porous graphite electrodes is a major limitation for fast charging. Theoretical evidence suggests plating during fast charging is largely due to inhomogeneous intercalation through the electrode thickness (caused by ionic/mass transfer limitations and inherent thermodynamic properties of the graphite material). Numerical and analytical predictions of plating onset during fast charging have been proposed but not compared directly with experiments. This work validates these model predictions against plating onset measurements via the “dOCV” method in graphite half-cells, for various electrode thicknesses and C-rates. Remarkably, it is shown that experimental and theoretical trends in plating onset (vs C-rate and electrode thickness) collapse to a single “master curve” using a nondimensional “reaction inhomogeneity” parameter. This observation supports the hypothesized reaction inhomogeneity mechanism for accelerating plating onset and provides practical guidance for electrode design. Furthermore, this work develops theory to quantify reaction inhomogeneity in situ directly from voltage V vs capacity Q data, using dQ/dV analysis. Here again, experiments and numerical predictions show good agreement, where peaks that correspond to LiC₆ correlate with plating onset. This work provides experimental validation of theoretical tools that can predict plating onset, aid electrode design, and give insight for plating onset mechanisms during fast charging.