High dielectric filler for all-solid-state lithium metal battery

Abstract

Lithium metal with its high theoretical capacity and low negative potential is considered one of the most important candidates to raise the energy density of all-solid-state batteries. However, lithium filament growth and its induced solid electrolyte decomposition pose severe challenges to realize a long cycle life. Here, dendrite growth in solid-state Li metal batteries is alleviated by introducing a high dielectric material, barium titanate, as a filler that removes the electric field gradients that catalyze dendrite formation. In symmetrical Li-metal cells, this results in a very small over-potential of only 48 mV at a relatively high current density of 1 mA cm⁻², when cycling a capacity of 2 mA h cm⁻² during 1700 h. The high dielectric filler improves the Coulombic efficiency and cycle life of full cells and suppresses electrolyte decomposition as indicated by solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements. This indicates that the high dielectric filler can suppress dendrite formation, thereby reducing solid electrolyte decomposition reactions, resulting in the observed low overpotentials and improved cycling efficiency.