Synergistically Stabilizing Thin Li Metal through the Formation of a Stable and Highly Conductive Solid Electrolyte Interface and Silver-Lithium Alloy

In this study, a stable solid electrolyte interface (SEI) and a Ag-Li alloy were formed through a simple slurry coating of silver (Ag) nanoparticles and Li nitrate (LiNO3) on a Li metal surface (AgLN-coated Li). The Ag-Li alloy has a high Li diffusion coefficient, which allowed the inward transfer of Li atoms, thus allowing Li to be deposited below the alloy. Moreover, the highly conductive SEI enabled the fast diffusion of Li ions corresponding to the alloy. This inward transfer resulted in dendrite suppression and improved the Coulombic efficiency (CE). The AgLN-coated Li exhibited an initial capacity retention >81% and CE > 99.7 ± 0.2% over 500 cycles at a discharge capacity of 2.3 mA h cm-2.