A Stable Lithium Metal Anode Enabled by the Site-Directed Lithium Deposition of ZnO-Nanosheet-Modified Carbon Cloth

Uneven lithium (Li) metal deposition typically results in uncontrollable dendrite growth, which renders an unsatisfactory cycling stability and coulombic efficiency (CE) of Li metal batteries (LMBs), preventing their practical application. Herein, a novel carbon cloth with the modification of ZnO nanosheets (ZnO@CC) is fabricated for LMBs. The as-prepared ZnO@CC with a cross-linked network significantly reduces the local current density, and the design of ZnO nanosheets can promote the uniform deposition of Li metal as lithiophilic sites. As a result, the Li metal anodes (LMAs) based on ZnO@CC (ZnO@CC@Li) enables a long cycle life over 640 hours with a low overpotential of 65 mV at a current density of 4 mA cm-2 with a capacity of 1 mAh cm-2 in the symmetric cell. Moreover, when coupling the ZnO@CC@Li with a LiFePO4 cathode, the assembled full cell exhibits excellent long cycle and rate performance, highlighting its promising practical application prospect. In this study, a long stable cycle life with uniform lithium deposition of Li metal anodes (LMAs) was achieved by introducing ZnO nanosheets with lithiophilic nature on the surface of carbon cloth (ZnO@CC). This approach leverages the promising host capacity of three-dimensional carbon materials for LMAs, offering a promising solution for enhancing the stability and uniformity of lithium deposition. image