Carbon/lithium composite anode for advanced lithium metal batteries: design, progress, in situ characterization, and perspectives

The lithium metal anode is a competitive candidate for next-generation lithium-ion batteries for its low redox potential and ultra-high theoretical specific capacity. Nevertheless, obstacles regarding heterogeneous lithium deposition, dendrite growth, and poor Coulombic efficiency limit its practical application. Among rational electrode designs, carbon materials have been regarded as feasible hosts for stabilizing lithium to address the above issues due to their light weight, high conductivity, and adjustable physicochemical properties. Therefore, tremendous efforts have been made to design stereoscopic carbon materials with multitudinous lithiophilic sites and large specific surface areas to facilitate rapid lithium-ion flux, nucleation and mitigate lithium dendrite formation by controlling the kinetics of lithium deposition. Furthermore, the mechanism of lithium plating/stripping is commendably elucidated with the help of advanced in situ characterization techniques. This progress report systematically reviews progress in carbon materials/lithium composite anodes for lithium metal batteries and the detailed parts are as follows: 1) carbon/lithium composite methods; 2) design lithiophilic mechanism; 3) various carbon materials substrates; 4) advanced in situ characterization techniques for lithium metal anodes; and 5) prospects toward the practical applications of advanced lithium metal batteries. This review provides new insights into lithium metal batteries' technological development and practical application. (© 2022 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)