Lithophilic metal-organic framework-derived copper oxide facilitates dendrite-free growth of lithium metal batteries

Lithium metal, with its low redox potential (−3.04 V vs. standard hydrogen electrode) and high theoretical specific capacity (3860 mAh g⁻¹), is widely regarded as a highly promising anode material. However, low Coulombic efficiency, unstable cycling performance, uncontrolled lithium dendrite formation, and safety issues due to the large volume changes during battery operation have hindered the widespread adoption of lithium metal anodes. In this work, MOFs-CuO@Carbon modified copper foils, produced through a two-step calcination method, are introduced. Here, lithophilic CuO and the octahedral structure of MOFs provide a high specific surface area and porous architecture, reducing lithium nucleation overpotential and local current density, resulting in a denser, smoother, dendrite-free lithium surface. The half-cell demonstrates a high Coulombic efficiency of 98.82 % over 400 cycles, and the symmetric cell achieves stable cycling for more than 1200 h at a current density of 1 mA cm⁻². Additionally, the CuO@Carbon@Li||LiFePO₄ full cell maintains a specific capacity of 136.6 mAh g⁻¹ after 300 cycles at a current density of 1C, with a high capacity retention rate of 94.01 %, while exhibiting an impressive average capacity of 107.8 mAh g⁻¹ at a high rate of 4C. This work offers novel insights into the design of MOF-derived materials for stable, dendrite-free lithium metal anodes.