Single-material aluminum foil as anodes enabling high-performance lithium-ion batteries: The roles of prelithiation and working mechanism

As alloying-type anode materials, metallic aluminum owns an ultra-high specific capacity (993 mAh gAl-1 to LiAl) for Li storage, which is low-cost and a promising candidate for next-generation rechargeable batteries with high energy densities. However, metallic Al anodes suffer from irreversible lithiation of naturally occurring alumina layer during cycles, resulting in rapid capacity decay of Al anode-based batteries. Herein, Li supplement nucleated on Al foil via a controllably electrochemical pre-lithiation technology is employed for achieving high-performance elemental foil anodes. In full batteries, the pre-lithiated areas continuously supply Li outward during dealloying process to compensate for irreversible lithium loss during alloying process that preferentially alloys the unreacted Al2O3 surface layer along the rolling direction of Al foil until the entire surface is covered by LixAlOy. This lithiation behavior can avoid the severe stress concentration during alloying to prevent the perforation and pulverization of foil, making commercial Al foil succeed as single-material anodes. The produced commercial Al foil anode-based Li-ion batteries employing various commercial cathodes demonstrate promising electrochemical performances. For example, the Al||LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 battery offers a high specific capacity of 180 mAh g−1, an excellent capacity retention of ∼90% after 400 cycles, and relatively stable solid electrolyte interface without any dendrite.