Lithium Deposition Mechanism under Different Thermal Conditions Unraveled via an Optimized Phase Field Model

As one of the most important physical fields for battery operation, the regulatory effect of temperature on the growth of lithium dendrites should be studied. In this paper, we develop an optimized phase field model to explore the effect of temperature on the growth of Li dendrites in Li metal batteries. We incorporated full lithium deposition kinetics, including atom diffusion and solid electrolyte interface restriction on interface kinetics, into the model and revealed their significance in determining the transformation of the lithium deposition morphology from moss-like to dendrite-like. We found that a high temperature or dispersed hot spots are more conducive to stable battery operation than a low temperature or concentrated hot spots due to the enhanced diffusion kinetics at the high temperature and the more uniform temperature distribution of dispersed hot spots. We believe our work can provide a useful tool for further exploring the thermal effect on stable lithium metal battery operation.