MXene-configured graphite towards long-life lithium-ion batteries under extreme conditions

Although commercial lithium-ion batteries have been widely used in portable electronics and electric vehicles, they are still plagued by the uncontrollable dendritic lithium under extreme conditions. Herein, an efficient strategy is developed to produce a MXene-configured graphite via an electrostatic interaction between MXene and silane coupling agent-modified graphite. Typically, MXene layers are adhered onto the basal plane of graphite, with good preservation of the uncovered lateral edges of graphite, effectively strengthening the adsorption energy of Li+ and reducing the lithium nucleation energy barrier. Moreover, the MXene interface possesses good lattice compatibility with Li (110) plane, greatly promoting the homogeneous growth of Li along the preferable plane under extreme conditions. Even at −20 °C, Ah-level pouch cell with MXene-configured graphite electrode delivers a high capacity retention of 93% after 1200 cycles (273 Wh kg−1) at 1 C, exceeding lithium-ion batteries with bare graphite electrode (43% capacity retention, 191 Wh kg−1). Commercial lithium-ion batteries still have the issue of the uncontrollable dendritic Li under extreme conditions. Here, authors demonstrate a MXene-configured graphite, enabling homogeneous growth of Li, achieving high-capacity retentions in Ah-level pouch cell at −20 °C and high rates.