The recent advances in constructing designed electrode in lithium metal batteries

In this review, we focus on the design of lithium electrode and its recent advancements, which suppress the growth of lithium dendrites and improve the performance of the rechargeable batteries. To suppress the growth of lithium dendrites, the general design rules of the system require a uniform lithium ion flux, a low current density, a homogeneous nucleation process and a stable SEI layer. Improvements of the battery performance have been achieved through the delicate design of lithium electrode and here they are summarized into three groups: i) optimizing the 3D porous nanostructure of the current collector, ii) constructing rational host for lithium metal and prelithiating the 3D host matrix with molten lithium, iii) protecting the surface of lithium metal by functional layers. An outlook of the challenges and the potentials of lithium metal battery is also provided, which will facilitate the future development of lithium metal battery.