TiO Nanofiber-Modified Lithium Metal Composite Anode for Solid-State Lithium Batteries.

Solid-state lithium metal batteries (SSLMBs), using lithium metal as the anode and garnet-structured LiLaZrTaO (LLZTO) as the electrolyte, are attractive and promising due to their high energy density and safety. However, the interface contact between the lithium metal and LLZTO is a major obstacle to the performance of SSLMBs. Here, we successfully improve the interface wettability by introducing one-dimensional (1D) TiO nanofibers into the lithium metal to obtain a Li-lithiated TiO composite anode (Li-TiO). When 10 wt % TiO nanofibers are added, the formed composite anode offers a seamless interface contact with LLZTO and enables an interfacial resistance of 27 Ω cm, which is much smaller than 374 Ω cm of pristine lithium metal. Due to the enhanced interface wettability, the symmetric Li-TiO|LLZTO|Li-TiO cell upgrades the critical current density to 2.2 mA cm and endures stable cycling over 550 h. Furthermore, by coupling the Li-TiO composite anode with the LiFePO cathode, the full cell shows stable cycling performance. This work proves the role of TiO nanofibers in enhancing the interface contact between the garnet electrolyte and the lithium metal anode and improving the performance of SSLMBs and provides an effective approach with 1D additives for solving the interface issues.