Regulating Uniform Li Plating/Stripping via Dual Conductive Metal Organic Frameworks for High Rate Lithium Metal Batteries

Lithium metal anodes show immense scope for application in high-energy electronics and electric vehicles. Unfortunately, lithium dendrite growth and volume change leading to short lifespan and safety issues severely limit the feasibility of lithium metal batteries. A rational design of metal-organic framework (MOF)-modified Li metal anode with optimized Li plating/stripping behavior via one-step carbonization of ZIF-67 is proposed. Experimental and theoretical simulation results reveal that carbonized MOFs with uniformly dispersed Co nanoparticles in N-graphene (Co@N-G) exhibit an electronic/ionic dual-conductivity and significantly improved affinity with Li, and so serve as an ideal host for dendrite-free lithium deposition, consequently leading to uniform lithium plating/stripping during cycling. As a result, the anode delivers highly stable cyclic performance with high coulombic efficiency (CE) at ultrahigh current densities (CE = 91.5% after 130 cycles at 10 mA cm(-2), and CE = 90.4% after 80 cycles at 15 mA cm(-2)). Moreover, the practical applicability and functionality of such anodes are demonstrated through assembly of Li-Co@N-G/NCM full batteries exhibiting a long cycle life of 100 cycles with a high capacity retention of 92% at 1 C.