Superlithiophilic N, S-codoped carbon on Ni foam as a stable 3D host for dendrite-free Li metal anodes

The commercialization of Li metal anodes (LMAs) has long been obstructed by potential safety concerns and infinite volume changes arising from the inevitable lithium dendrites growth. Herein, we decorate a 3D porous Ni foam with nitrogen, sulfur-codoped carbon (NSC@Ni) through an interfacial polymerization strategy. It can be demonstrated that the synergetic effect of N and S co-doping can significantly improve the lithiophilicity of both pyrrolic and pyridinic N (in N, S-codoped carbon) according to density functional theoretical calculations. Benefitting from the lithiophilic heteroatom doping, the 3D NSC@Ni skeleton can realize a flat and dendrite-free Li deposition. As a result, the NSC@Ni electrode displays a high Coulombic efficiency of asymptotic to 98.59% at 2 mA cm(-2 )with 4 mA h cm(-2) for over 153 cycles. And a stable cycle for 780 h at 1 mA cm(-2 ) with 1 mA h cm-2 in NSC@NiLi symmetric cell can be realized. Impressively, a full cell assembled with LiFePO4 cathode shows outstanding rate performance and cycling stability at 1 C (300 cycles and capacity retention of 80.74%).