Single Zinc Atoms Immobilized on MXene (Ti3C2Clx) Layers toward Dendrite-Free Lithium Metal Anodes

Lithium (Li) metal has been considered as one of the most prospective anodes for Li-based batteries owing to its high theoretical gravimetric capacity (3860 mAh g–1) and low potential (−3.04 V vs standard hydrogen electrode (SHE)). Unfortunately, there commonly exist uncontrollable dendrites in lithium anodes during the repeated plating–stripping processes, causing short cycle life and even short circuiting of lithium batteries. Here, single zinc atoms immobilized on MXene (Ti3C2Clx) layers (Zn-MXene) were produced to efficiently induce Li nucleation and growth. At the initial plating stage, lithium tended to nucleate homogeneously on the surface of Zn-MXene layers due to the large presence of Zn atoms and then grow vertically along the nucleated sites owing to a strong lightning rod effect at the edges, affording bowl-like lithium without lithium dendrites. Thus, a low overpotential of 11.3 ± 0.1 mV, long cyclic life (1200 h), and deep stripping–plating levels up to 40 mAh cm–2 are obtained by using Zn-MXene films as lithium anodes.