Suppressing Lithium Metal Plating of Graphite Anode with Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ for Fast-Charging Li-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) experience implausible lithium plating, a deterioration in service life, and a decrease in rate performance at different lithium-ion battery operating conditions, regardless of their substantial advancements in energy conservation. Lithium plating on the anode electrode surface escalates its performance deterioration and creates safety risks for LIBs. The main cause of these issues is the limitations in electrochemical kinetics at the electrode and electrolyte interface. In this study, we emphasize the use of a voltage relaxation profile analysis to identify the onset of lithium plating during progressive cycling at various states of charge (SOC) and discharge rates. In addition, we report the utilization of Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ coatings with different weight percentages on graphite as the new anode electrode materials for LIBs. Anode electrodes with small percentages of Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ coatings (0.5 wt.%) on graphite did not exhibit any lithium plating even at 90% SOC at a 4 C discharge rate. This material’s ability to inhibit lithium plating has thus been shown to be better than that of a graphite anode electrode alone. High-rate capability and cycle life are also obtained using these anode electrode materials for full cell system. We further demonstrate that differential open-circuit voltage (dOCV) analysis is capable of detecting the onset of Li plating while cycling, suggesting the economic viability of this approach for active Li detection.