Inhibition of Lithium Dendrite Growth at Low Temperatures by Sinusoidal Pulse Charging

A critical aspect for ensuring the safety of lithium batteries is the effective mitigation of lithium dendrite formation on the lithium-metal anode. This paper presents a nonlinear phase-field model integrated with a temperature field to simulate various morphological changes during the growth of lithium dendrites. A quantitative analysis was conducted from the perspectives of size and deposition amount, examining the impact of environmental temperature on dendrite formation, as well as the suppression of low-temperature lithium dendrites through the application of sinusoidal pulse voltage and sinusoidal pulse current. Research indicates that for symmetrical dendrites, lower environmental temperatures result in increased length and more pronounced side branch precursors. In the case of lithium-metal anodes, lower temperatures lead to uneven deposition, whereas higher temperatures suppress the growth of lithium dendrites on the anode and enhance the overall amount of deposition. In instances of severe lithium dendrite growth at low temperatures, applying sinusoidal voltage and current can effectively reduce both the overall size and the amount of the dendrite deposition by diminishing the surrounding concentration gradient.