Material Design and In Operando Raman Spectroscopy for Study of Anode-Free Lithium Metal Batteries

In this talk, I will present some of our group’s research on anode-free lithium metal batteries (AFLMB). In the first half of my presentation, I will discuss our work on a new class of nanomaterials, TiB₂ derived 1-dimensional lepidocrocite quasi two-dimensional nanoflakes (1DL), used to create an anode with lithium scaffolding in AFLMBs. Using directionally controlled freezing during the electrode fabrication process, the 1DL material is orientated vertically to guide lithium deposition and lower nucleation overpotentials. Through postmortem GC-MS-based analysis of cycled anodes, we demonstrate that the1DL anodes results in reduced Li loss to dead Li. The application of this anode engineering to solid electrolyte systems will create a more stable electrolyte/electrode interface. In the second half of the presentation, I will discuss our work on study of a polymer gel electrolyte for AFLMBs. Particularly, we used in-operando Raman spectroscopy to investigate the dynamic evolution of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on the copper electrode during the initial cycling. In doing so, we also observed initial SEI components that form on the copper electrode before lithium plating, contributing to stable cycling. The flexibility of this technique allows us to observe these types of interfacial products in-operando for any solid electrolyte.