Enabling Stable and Low-Strain Lithium Plating/Stripping with 2D Layered Transition Metal Carbides by Forming Li-Zipped MXenes and a Li Halide-Rich Solid Electrolyte Interphase

Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials demonstrate prominent advantage in regulating lithium plating/stripping behavior by confining lithium diffusion/plating within interlayer gaps. However, achieving effective interlayer confined lithium diffusion/plating without compromising the stability of bulk-structural and the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) remains a considerable challenge. This paper presents an electrochemical scissor and lithium zipper-driven protocol for realizing interlayer confined lithium plating with pretty-low strain and volume change. In this protocol, lithium serves as a "zipper" to reunite the adjacent MXene back to MAX-like phase to markedly enhance the structural stability, and a lithium halide-rich SEI is formed by electrochemically removing the terminals of halogenated MXenes to maintain the stability and rapid lithium ions diffusion of SEI. When the Ti3C2I2 serves as the host for lithium plating, the average coulomb efficiency exceeds 97.0 % after 320 lithium plating/stripping cycles in conventional ester electrolyte. Furthermore, a full cell comprising of LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 and Ti3C2I2@Li exhibits a capacity retention rate of 73.4 % after 200 cycles even under high cathode mass-loading (20 mg cm-2) and a low negative/positive capacity ratio of 1.4. Our findings advance the understanding of interlayer confined lithium plating in 2D layered materials and provide a new direction in regulating lithium and other metal plating/stripping behaviors. A novel "electrochemical scissor" and "Li zipper"-driven interlayer Li plating protocol in 2D layered transition metal carbides (MXenes) is proposed, where lithium serves as a "zipper" to reunite the adjacent MXene back to MAX-like phase to markedly enhance the bulk phase-structural stability, and a Li halide-rich SEI is formed by "electrochemical scissor" removing the terminals of MXenes to maintain the stability and high Li+ diffusivity of SEI. image