Li metal, the ideal anode material for rechargeable batteries, suffers from the inherent limitations of uneven interface kinetics and dendrite growth. Herein, we tackle this issue by applying an interface crystallographic optimization strategy. We demonstrate a promising metallic Li anode design by introducing a customized magnetron sputtering layer of preferred orientation copper coating on the surface of a current collector. The sputtered Cu layer employed is stable against the highly reactive robust Li metal to render the surface lithiophilic and achieve promoted interface kinetics due to the perfect interface-crystal plane matching between the sputtered copper layer and premier Li metal. The dendrite-free Li anode sustains stable interface kinetics and achieves a stable life span of 200 cycles during the plating and stripping process in commercial carbonate electrolytes. This design based on crystallographic optimization provides important insights into the design principles of the Li metal anode as well as other alkali metal anodes (Na, K, Zn, Mg, and Al).
Keywords: crystal plane preferred orientation; crystallographic optimization; current collector; dendrite-free lithium anode; lithium metal anode.