Phase-field simulation of interface growth of magnesium metal anodes during electrodeposition

Mg-metal has abundant reserves and extremely high-volume capacity, making it an excellent choice as the negative electrode for low-cost, high-volume energy-density batteries. More and more studies have shown that there is still a problem of dendritic growth in Mg-metal. Here, we use the open-source MOOSE software package to establish a phase-field model for Mg-electrodeposition and study the dynamic morphological evolution of the growth of Mg-metal anode interfaces under different overpotentials in two dimensions. By studying the temporal-spatial distributions of ion concentration, chemical potential, and electric potential, we analyze the growth processes of Mg-metal anode interfaces under different applied overpotentials in detail. The results show that the Mg-metal anode interfaces only grow dendrites under applied overpotentials ranging from −0.24 to −0.30 V because the interface electrochemical reactions rate is greater than the interface ion transfer rate.