Magnetic Actuation Enables Programmable Lithium Metal Engineering

摘要

Lithium metal anodes may allow the energy density limit of rechargeablelithium batteries to be pushed higher. However, simple and efficient processingtechnologies for thin Li metal are lacking, which has significantlylimited its applications. Herein, the feasibility of engineering Li metal bycompositing it with ferromagnetic particles (termed magnetic Li, abbr. M-Li)is reported. Due to its magnetic response, straightforward processing of M-Lion diverse substrates with customized patterns and desired thickness is realized.Moreover, when a garnet-type solid-state electrolyte Li_(6.5)La_3Zr_(1.5)Ta_(0.5)O_(12)(LLZTO) is the substrate, intimate contact between M-Li and LLZTO isobtained, with a low interfacial resistance of ≈11 Ω cm~2. In addition to facilitatingmovement and wetting on various substrates, magnetic transfer ofM-Li sheets to designated locations is also enabled. The intriguing and brandnewmethod for Li metal engineering via magnetic actuation may be adoptedby the industrial system for the fabrication of Li metal batteries, extended toother alkali metals and promises further progress.