Recent progress on enhancing the Lithiophilicity of hosts for dendrite-free lithium metal batteries

The renaissance of lithium (Li) metal batteries points the direction for next-generation high-energy-density electrochemical energy storage systems. Unfortunately, their practical implementation has been plagued by the uncontrolled growth of Li dendrites, which is considered to be closely related to the properties of substrates/hosts for Li metal deposition. Poor lithiophilicity of substrates can lead to a high nucleation barrier, in turn inducing the inhomogeneous deposition of Li metal. Over the past few decades, tremendous efforts have been devoted to improving the lithophilicity of deposited substrates. However, there is not any endeavor to systematically summarize the impressive progress and circumvent this difficult problem. In this work, we start with an introduction of the importance of Li nucleation behavior for Li metal deposition. Then, we classify and screen out the methods to quantitatively characterize the lithophilicity of deposited substrates. Afterwards, the existing strategies to enhance the lithiophilicity of deposited substrates are highlighted. Finally, personal insights and perspectives on the development direction of Li metal batteries focusing on superior lithiophilicity are proposed, which may broaden the horizons for the understanding of lithophilicity nature and provide guidance for the design of Li metal batteries.