Advanced nanoporous separators for stable lithium metal electrodeposition at ultra-high current densities in liquid electrolytes

Lithium metal anodes form a dendritic structure after cycling which causes an internal short circuit in flammable electrolytes and results in battery fires. Today's separators are insufficient for suppressing the formation of lithium dendrites. Herein, we report on the use of mesoporous silica thin films (MSTFs) with perpendicular nanochannels (pore size ∼5 nm) stacking on an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane as the MSTF⊥AAO separator for advancing Li metal batteries. The nanoporous MSTF⊥AAO separator with novel inorganic structures shows ultra-long term stability of Li plating/stripping in Li–Li cells at an ultra-high current density and capacity (10 mA cm−2 and 5 mA h cm−2). A significant improvement over the state-of-the-art separator is evaluated based on three performance indicators, e.g. cycle life, current density and capacity. In Li–Cu cells, the MSTF⊥AAO separator shows a coulombic efficiency of >99.9% at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 for more than 250 h of cycling. The separator gives improved rate capability in Li–LiFePO4 (LFP) batteries. The excellent performance of the MSTF⊥AAO separator is due to good wetting of electrolytes, straight nanopores with negative charges, uniform Li deposition and blocking the finest dendrite.