Dynamic Intelligent Cu Current Collectors for Ultrastable Lithium Metal Anodes

Three-dimensional (3D) current collectors have shown great potential in realizing dendrite-free lithium (Li) metal anodes. However, the rigid 3D current collectors could not simultaneously suppress Li dendrite growth and allow Li plating/stripping under high capacities and large current densities. Here, we report a dynamic intelligent Cu (DICu) current collector that dynamically accommodates the volume change by changing the packing density of the assembled particles. The Li/DICu electrode achieves a high Coulombic efficiency of 99.6% after 800 cycles. The symmetrical cell shows exceptional cycling stability under the high current density of 10 mA cm^-2. Notably, when assembled in full-cell batteries, the Li/DICu|LiFePO₄ battery maintains a specific capacity of 139.5 mAh g^-1 at 1 C for 500 cycles, and the Li/DICu|S battery delivers a specific capacity of 804 mAh g^-1 after 500 cycles at 0.5 C, corresponding to the best performance among Li metal batteries with Cu-based current collectors to date.