Bypassing morphological instability of lithium deposition by inducing current distortion in solid-state electrolytes

Abstract

Solid-state electrolytes are considered as a prospective candidate for realizing high-energy-density batteries based on the fact that the solid electrolytes are able to lower densities of cells and stabilize cells under high thermal conditions. However, numerous hurdles exist to applying solid-state electrolytes to practical batteries. Among the hurdles, the dendritic growth of lithium in solid-state electrolytes is fatal. To control the hurdle, various strategies have been reported, however, using 3 dimensional (3D) structures as a lithium host is considered a suitable strategy. In this study, it is revealed that the migration flux is able to be distorted by the ionic flux induced by the pressure gradient. Furthermore, the distorted current induces safe deposition of lithium by guiding lithium deposition toward the empty space of the 3D current collector. Therefore, it is suggested that the possibility of current distortion in solid-state electrolytes using a 3D current collector is a strategy that stably induces lithium deposition by bypassing morphological instability of lithium deposition.