Ultrathin Composite Separator Based on Lithiated COF Nanosheet for High Stability Lithium Metal Batteries

Lithium metal is considered as the ultimate anode material for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries. However, lithium metal batteries (LMBs) with commercial separators still face some challenges such as low cycling efficiency and uncontrollable Li dendrite growth, which seriously hampers the commercialization of LMBs. In this study, a novel kind of ultrathin (6.2 mu m) multifunctional composite separator (TpPa-SO3Li@PE) is designed and prepared via coating lithiated covalent organic framework nanosheet (TpPa-SO3Li) on the surface of commercial polyethylene separator (PE). TpPa-SO3Li@PE integrates features of the nanochannel arrays and abundant immobilized anionic sites, leading to efficient Li+ conduction and homogeneous Li+ flow. As a result, TpPa-SO3Li@PE exhibits excellent Li+ conductivity (0.96 mS cm-1) and Li+ transference number (0.83) at room temperature, and Li/Li symmetric cell using TpPa-SO3Li@PE separator possesses highly stable Li plating/striping (over 2600 h) at high current density (5 mA cm-2). Moreover, Li/LiFePO4 full cells with TpPa-SO3Li@PE separator show excellent cycling performance (high capacity retention of 94.9% after 300 cycles at 1 C) and superior rate performance (high specific capacity of 113.6 mAh g-1 at 5 C). By introducing TpPa-SO3Li coating with 2D rigid skeleton, arranged pore channels and covalently anchored sulfonate groups, a novel ultrathin composite separator TpPa-SO3Li@PE with high Young's modulus, high Li+ transference number, and excellent Li+ conductivity can be successfully constructed. As a result, lithium metal batteries using TpPa-SO3Li@PE show excellent long-cycling stability. image