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Three-dimensional porous framework constructed by hybrid of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanocoils for stable lithium metal anode

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Abstract

Lithium metal is regarded as the most potential anode material for its high specific capacity, but lithium dendrite growth and volume expansion problems limit its application. Herein, a simple vacuum filtration process is used to synthesize a porous network composed of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanocoils (CNCs) as the 3D lithium metal host. The high specific surface area and the good lithiophilicity of CNC@CNT structure promote the uniform lithium deposition and inhibit the formation of lithium dendrites. The introduction of super-elastic CNCs effectively prevents the agglomeration of CNTs, and provides fast transport paths and abundant space for lithium ions. Meanwhile, it releases partial stress during cycling. The electrode presents a low overpotential of 11.8 mV at 0.5 mA cm−2, and the average coulombic efficiency is 97.3% under nearly 200 long-time cycles, which provides a good idea for the improvement of 3D host for lithium metal anode.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant Numbers 51972039, 51803018, and 51661145025]; LiaoNing Revitalization Talents Program [Grant Number XLYC1902122]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [Grant Number DUT21JC06].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Microelectronics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Huitong Zhao & Huan Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Ocean Energy Utilization and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Liang Hao

  3. School of Physics, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116024, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Zeng Fan & Lujun Pan

  4. State Key Laboratory of ASIC and Systems, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Chen Wang

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  1. Huitong Zhao
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  2. Huan Chen
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  3. Chen Wang
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  4. Zeng Fan
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  5. Liang Hao
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  6. Lujun Pan
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Liang Hao or Lujun Pan.

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Zhao, H., Chen, H., Wang, C. et al. Three-dimensional porous framework constructed by hybrid of carbon nanotubes and carbon nanocoils for stable lithium metal anode. Journal of Materials Research 37, 2073–2081 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00619-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/s43578-022-00619-w

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