High plating currents without dendrites at the interface between a lithium anode and solid electrolyte

Abstract Avoiding lithium dendrites at the lithium/ceramic electrolyte interface and, as a result, avoiding cell short circuit when plating at practical current densities remains a significant challenge for all-solid-state batteries. Typically, values are limited to around 1 mA cm −2 , even, for example, for garnets with a relative density of >99%. It is not obvious that simply densifying ceramic electrolytes will deliver high plating currents. Here we show that plating currents of 9 mA cm −2 can be achieved without dendrite formation, by densifying argyrodite, Li 6 PS 5 Cl, to 99%. Changes in the microstructure of Li 6 PS 5 Cl on densification from 83 to 99% were determined by focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy tomography and used to calculate their effect on the critical current density (CCD). Modelling shows that not all changes in microstructure with densification act to increase CCD. Whereas smaller pores and shorter cracks increase CCD, lower pore population and narrower cracks act to decrease CCD. Calculations show that the former changes dominate over the latter, predicating an overall increase in CCD, as observed experimentally.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Energy
Published
2025-09-04
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-025-01847-0
Citations
10
Primary Topic
Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
7.30

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article

High plating currents without dendrites at the interface between a lithium anode and solid electrolyte

Ziyang Ning, Gregory J. Rees, T.J. Marrow, Anne Bonnin et al.
10 citations
Nature Energy
Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies
7.30
article

High plating currents without dendrites at the interface between a lithium anode and solid electrolyte

Ziyang Ning, Gregory J. Rees, T.J. Marrow, Anne Bonnin, Bingkun Hu, Marco Siniscalchi, Johannes Ihli, Patrick S. Grant, Shashidhara Marathe, Dominic L. R. Melvin, Peter G. Bruce, Charles W. Monroe, Guanchen Li, Dominic Spencer Jolly, Junfu Bu, Shengming Zhang
article en
10 citations

Abstract

Abstract Avoiding lithium dendrites at the lithium/ceramic electrolyte interface and, as a result, avoiding cell short circuit when plating at practical current densities remains a significant challenge for all-solid-state batteries. Typically, values are limited to around 1 mA cm −2 , even, for example, for garnets with a relative density of >99%. It is not obvious that simply densifying ceramic electrolytes will deliver high plating currents. Here we show that plating currents of 9 mA cm −2 can be achieved without dendrite formation, by densifying argyrodite, Li 6 PS 5 Cl, to 99%. Changes in the microstructure of Li 6 PS 5 Cl on densification from 83 to 99% were determined by focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy tomography and used to calculate their effect on the critical current density (CCD). Modelling shows that not all changes in microstructure with densification act to increase CCD. Whereas smaller pores and shorter cracks increase CCD, lower pore population and narrower cracks act to decrease CCD. Calculations show that the former changes dominate over the latter, predicating an overall increase in CCD, as observed experimentally.

Nature EnergyVol. 10(10)
Paul Scherrer Institute (CH), Diamond Light Source (GB), University of Oxford (GB), University of Glasgow (GB), University of Birmingham (GB)
Diamond Light Source, Henry Royce Institute, University of Oxford, Paul Scherrer Institut, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies
7.30
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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