Sn‐Alloy Foil Electrode with Mechanical Prelithiation: Full‐Cell Performance up to 200 Cycles

Abstract Self‐supporting Sn foil is a promising high‐volumetric‐capacity anode for lithium ion batteries (LIBs), but it suffers from low initial Coulombic efficiency (ICE). Here, mechanical prelithiation is adopted to improve ICE, and it is found that Sn foils with coarser grains are prone to cause electrode damage. To mitigate damage and prepare thinner lithiated electrodes, 3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn foil is used that has more refined grains (5–10 µm) instead of Sn (50–100 µm), where the abundant grain boundaries (GBs) offer more sliding systems to release stress and reduce deep fractures. Thus, the thickness of Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn can be reduced to 50 µm, compared to 100 µm Li_xSn. When the foils contact open air, the Sn‐Li‐O(H) products are more stable than Li‐O(H), thus Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn shows outstanding air stability. The as‐prepared 50 µm foil anode achieves stable 200 cycles in LiFePO₄//Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn full cell (≈2.65 mAh cm⁻²) and the capacity retention is 95%. Even at 5C, the capacity of Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn is still up to ≈1.8 mAh cm⁻². The cycle life of NCM523//Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn full cell exceeds that of NCM523//Li. Furthermore, 70 µm Li_x3Ag0.5Cu96.5Sn is used as double‐sided anode for a 3 cm × 2.8 cm pouch cell and its actual volumetric capacity density is 674 mAh cm⁻³ after 50 cycles.