Abstract
Uncontrollable dendrite growth hinders the direct use of lithium metal anode in batteries even though it has the highest energy density of all anode materials. Li and N atoms have strong interaction and could form Li–N bond, promising for regulating Li-ion flux during the plating/stripping process. Herein, we successfully prepared ultrathin graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets with a thickness of ~ 1 nm and formed a g-C3N4 thin layer over the lithium metal anode. The abundant nitrogen species within g-C3N4 nanosheets could form Li–N bonds to powerfully stabilize the lithium-ion flux and enhance the affinity of electrodes with electrolytes. On top of that, the thin layer could act as an artificial solid electrolyte interface (SEI) to suppress lithium dendrite growth and enable stable Li plating/stripping over 350 h at a high current density of 5 mA cm−2 with a low overpotential of about 50 mV. The reported work demonstrates a promising strategy of the functional artificial SEI design for Li metal anodes.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Winter M, Barnett B, Xu K (2018) Before Li ion batteries[J]. Chem Rev 118:11433–11456
Armand M, Tarascon JM (2008) Building better batteries[J]. Nature 451:652–657
Lin D, Liu Y, Cui Y (2017) Reviving the lithium metal anode for high-energy batteries[J]. Nat Nanotechnol 12:194–206
Li M, Lu J, Chen Z et al (2018) 30 years of lithium-ion batteries[J]. Adv Mater 30:e1800561
Xie J, Lu YC (2020) A retrospective on lithium-ion batteries[J]. Nat Commun 11:2499
Tang W, Yin X, Kang S et al (2018) Lithium silicide surface enrichment: a solution to lithium metal battery[J]. Adv Mater:e1801745
Cheng X-B, Yan C, Chen X, Guan C, Huang JQ, Peng HJ, Zhang R, Yang ST, Zhang Q (2017) Implantable solid electrolyte interphase in lithium-metal batteries[J]. Chem 2:258–270
Guo Y, Li H, Zhai T (2017) Reviving lithium-metal anodes for next-generation high-energy batteries[J]. Adv Mater 29:1700007
Wu H, Cao Y, Geng L, Wang C (2017) In situ formation of stable interfacial coating for high performance lithium metal anodes[J]. Chem Mater 29:3572–3579
Gao Y, Zhao Y, Li YC, Huang Q, Mallouk TE, Wang D (2017) Interfacial chemistry regulation via a skin-grafting strategy enables high-performance lithium-metal batteries[J]. J Am Chem Soc 139:15288–15291
Liu F, Xiao Q, Wu HB, Shen L, Xu D, Cai M, Lu Y (2018) Fabrication of hybrid silicate coatings by a simple vapor deposition method for lithium metal anodes[J]. Adv Energy Mater 8:1701744
Chen L, Huang Z, Shahbazian-Yassar R, Libera JA, Klavetter KC, Zavadil KR, Elam JW (2018) Directly formed alucone on lithium metal for high-performance li batteries and li-s batteries with high sulfur mass loading[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10:7043–7051
Wang C, Yang Y, Liu X, Zhong H, Xu H, Xu Z, Shao H, Ding F (2017) Suppression of lithium dendrite formation by using LAGP-PEO (LiTFSI) composite solid electrolyte and lithium metal anode modified by PEO (LiTFSI) in all-solid-state lithium batteries[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9:13694–13702
Zhang SJ, Gao ZG, Wang WW et al (2018) A natural biopolymer film as a robust protective layer to effectively stabilize lithium-metal anodes[J]. Small:e1801054
Shen X, Qian T, Chen P, Liu J, Wang M, Yan C (2018) Bioinspired polysulfiphobic artificial interphase layer on lithium metal anodes for lithium sulfur batteries[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10:30058–30064
Xu R, Zhang X-Q, Cheng X-B, Peng HJ, Zhao CZ, Yan C, Huang JQ (2018) Artificial soft-rigid protective layer for dendrite-free lithium metal anode[J]. Adv Funct Mater 28:1705838
Chen L, Chen KS, Chen X, Ramirez G, Huang Z, Geise NR, Steinrück HG, Fisher BL, Shahbazian-Yassar R, Toney MF, Hersam MC, Elam JW (2018) Novel ALD chemistry enabled low-temperature synthesis of lithium fluoride coatings for durable lithium anodes[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10:26972–26981
Yuan Y, Wu F, Bai Y, Li Y, Chen G, Wang Z, Wu C (2019) Regulating Li deposition by constructing LiF-rich host for dendrite-free lithium metal anode[J]. Energy Stor Mater 16:411–418
Ma G, Wen Z, Wu M, Shen C, Wang Q, Jin J, Wu X (2014) A lithium anode protection guided highly-stable lithium-sulfur battery[J]. Chem Commun 50:14209–14212
Liang J, Li X, Zhao Y et al (2018) In situ Li3PS4 solid-state electrolyte protection layers for superior long-life and high-rate lithium-metal anodes[J]. Adv Mater 30:e1804684
Wang C, Bai G, Yang Y et al (2018) Dendrite-free all-solid-state lithium batteries with lithium phosphorous oxynitride-modified lithium metal anode and composite solid electrolytes[J]. Nano Res 12:217–223
Yan J, Yu J, Ding B (2018) Mixed ionic and electronic conductor for Li-metal anode protection[J]. Adv Mater 30:1705105
Chen L, Connell JG, Nie A, Huang Z, Zavadil KR, Klavetter KC, Yuan Y, Sharifi-Asl S, Shahbazian-Yassar R, Libera JA, Mane AU, Elam JW (2017) Lithium metal protected by atomic layer deposition metal oxide for high performance anodes[J]. J Mater Chem A 5:12297–12309
Lu K, Gao S, Dick RJ, Sattar Z, Cheng Y (2019) A fast and stable Li metal anode incorporating an Mo6S8 artificial interphase with super Li-ion conductivity[J]. J Mater Chem A 7:6038–6044
Liu Y, Tzeng Y-K, Lin D, Pei A, Lu H, Melosh NA, Shen ZX, Chu S, Cui Y (2018) An ultrastrong double-layer nanodiamond interface for stable lithium metal anodes[J]. Joule 2:1595–1609
Wang D, Luan C, Zhang W, Liu X, Sun L, Liang Q, Qin T, Zhao Z, Zhou Y, Wang P, Zheng W (2018) Zipper-inspired SEI film for remarkably enhancing the stability of Li metal anode via nucleation barriers controlled weaving of lithium pits[J]. Adv Energy Mater 8:1800650
Bai M, Xie K, Yuan K et al (2018) A scalable approach to dendrite-free lithium anodes via spontaneous reduction of spray-coated graphene oxide layers[J]. Adv Mater:e1801213
Cha E, Patel MD, Park J, Hwang J, Prasad V, Cho K, Choi W (2018) 2D MoS2 as an efficient protective layer for lithium metal anodes in high-performance Li-S batteries[J]. Nat Nanotechnol 13:337–344
Shi L, Xu A, Zhao T (2017) First-principles investigations of the working mechanism of 2D h-BN as an interfacial layer for the anode of lithium metal batteries[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9:1987–1994
Xie J, Liao L, Gong Y et al (2017) Stitching h-BN by atomic layer deposition of LiF as a stable interface for lithium metal anode[J]. Sci Adv:eaao3170
Lang J, Song J, Qi L, Luo Y, Luo X, Wu H (2017) Uniform lithium deposition induced by polyacrylonitrile submicron fiber array for stable lithium metal anode[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9:10360–10365
Yan K, Lu Z, Lee H-W, Xiong F, Hsu PC, Li Y, Zhao J, Chu S, Cui Y (2016) Selective deposition and stable encapsulation of lithium through heterogeneous seeded growth[J]. Nat Energy 1:16010
Reddy KR, Reddy CV, Nadagouda MN, Shetti NP, Jaesool S, Aminabhavi TM (2019) Polymeric graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based semiconducting nanostructured materials: synthesis methods, properties and photocatalytic applications[J]. J Environ Manag 238:25–40
Chen J, Mao Z, Zhang L, Wang D, Xu R, Bie L, Fahlman BD (2017) Nitrogen-deficient graphitic carbon nitride with enhanced performance for lithium ion battery anodes[J]. ACS Nano 11:12650–12657
Mishra A, Mehta A, Basu S, Shetti NP, Reddy KR, Aminabhavi TM (2019) Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4)-based metal-free photocatalysts for water splitting: a review[J]. Carbon 149:693–721
Guo Y, Niu P, Liu Y et al (2019) An Autotransferable g-C3N4 Li+-Modulating Layer toward Stable Lithium Anodes[J]. Adv Mater 31:e1900342
Hu J, Tian J, Li C (2017) Nanostructured carbon nitride polymer-reinforced electrolyte to enable dendrite-suppressed lithium metal batteries[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 9:11615–11625
Sun Z, Li Y, Zhang S, Shi L, Wu H, Bu H, Ding S (2019) g-C3N4 nanosheets enhanced solid polymer electrolytes with excellent electrochemical performance, mechanical properties, and thermal stability[J]. J Mater Chem A 7:11069–11076
Huang Y, Chen B, Duan J, Yang F, Wang T, Wang Z, Yang W, Hu C, Luo W, Huang Y (2020) Graphitic carbon bitride (g-C3N4): an interface enabler for solid-state lithium metal batteries[J]. Angew Chem Int Ed 59:3699–3704
Monga D, Ilager D, Shetti NP, Basu S, Aminabhavi TM (2020) 2D/2d heterojunction of MoS2/g-C3N4 nanoflowers for enhanced visible-light-driven photocatalytic and electrochemical degradation of organic pollutants[J]. J Environ Manag 274:111208
Tan Z, Ni K, Chen G, Zeng W, Tao Z, Ikram M, Zhang Q, Wang H, Sun L, Zhu X, Wu X, Ji H, Ruoff RS, Zhu Y (2017) Incorporating pyrrolic and pyridinic nitrogen into a porous carbon made from C60 molecules to obtain superior energy storage[J]. Adv Mater 29:1603414
Lu Z, Liang Q, Wang B, Tao Y, Zhao Y, Lv W, Liu D, Zhang C, Weng Z, Liang J, Li H, Yang QH (2019) Graphitic carbon nitride induced micro-electric field for dendrite-free lithium metal anodes[J]. Adv Energy Mater 9:1803186
Chen K-H, Wood KN, Kazyak E et al (2017) Dead lithium: mass transport effects on voltage, capacity, and failure of lithium metal anodes[J]. J Mater Chem A 5:11671–11681
Li K, Hu Z, Ma J et al (2019) A 3D and stable lithium anode for high-performance lithium-iodine batteries[J]. Adv Mater 31:e1902399
Wang H, Liu M, Wang X, Zhang W, Che Y, Chen L, Wu Y, Li W (2020) A self-smoothing Li-metal anode enabled via a hybrid interface film[J]. J Mater Chem A 8:12045–12054
Zhuang Z, Yang L, Ju B, Lei G, Zhou Q, Liao H, Yin A, Deng Z, Tang Y, Qin S, Tu F (2020) Ameliorating interfacial issues of LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2/poly(propylene carbonate) by introducing graphene interlayer for all-solid-state lithium batteries[J]. ChemistrySelect 5:2291–2299
Zhuang Z, Yang L, Ju B et al (2020) Engineering LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2/poly(propylene carbonate) interface by graphene oxide modification for all-solid-state lithium batteries[J]. Energy Storage 2:e109
Zhao Q, Liu X, Stalin S, Khan K, Archer LA (2019) Solid-state polymer electrolytes with in-built fast interfacial transport for secondary lithium batteries[J]. Nat Energy 4:365–373
Park K, Goodenough JB (2017) Dendrite-suppressed lithium plating from a liquid electrolyte via wetting of Li3N[J]. Adv Energy Mater 7:1700732
Yao YX, Zhang XQ, Li BQ et al (2019) A compact inorganic layer for robust anode protection in lithium-sulfur batteries[J]. InfoMat 2:379–388
Peng Z, Ren F, Yang S, Wang M, Sun J, Wang D, Xu W, Zhang JG (2019) A highly stable host for lithium metal anode enabled by Li9Al4-Li3N-AlN structure[J]. Nano Energy 59:110–119
Ye S, Wang L, Liu F et al (2020) g-C3N4 derivative artificial organic/inorganic composite solid electrolyte interphase layer for stable lithium metal anode[J]. Adv Energy Mater 10:2002647
Yang W, Yang W, Sun B, di S, Yan K, Wang G, Shao G (2018) Mixed lithium oxynitride/oxysulfide as an interphase protective layer to stabilize lithium anodes for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries[J]. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 10:39695–39704
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2020JJ5563), Science and Technology Innovation Project of China Minmetals (2018ZXB02-01), and Science and Technology Innovation Project of CRIMM (20192709). We would also thank Yecheng Fan from Shiyanjia Lab (www.shiyanjia.com) for the TEM, AFM and XPS analysis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhuang, Z., Ju, B., Ma, P. et al. Ultrathin graphitic C3N4 lithiophilic nanosheets regulating Li+ flux for lithium metal batteries. Ionics 27, 1069–1079 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-020-03897-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-020-03897-8