Effect of Crystal Orientation of Cu Current Collectors on Cycling Stability of Li Metal Anodes

Li metal anodes are plagued by low coulombic efficiency due to their interfacial instability. Many approaches were proposed to cope with this problem; however, little attention has been given to the current collector of Li anodes. In this study, we investigate the crystal orientation dependence of the cycling stability of Li anodes on single-crystal Cu(111), (101), and (001) and polycrystalline Cu current collectors. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) show that (111) and (001) achieved high current efficiency and low interfacial resistance, while (101) and polycrystalline Cu exhibited low cyclabilities. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis revealed that the thickness of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) varies with the Cu crystal orientation, and the SEI is the thinnest on the single-crystal Cu(111). This tendency can be explained by the orientation dependence of the surface energy of Cu, which corresponds to the chemical activity of the surfaces. Our result advocates the importance of considering Cu orientation for interfacial engineering of Li metal anodes.