Vertical nanoarrays with lithiophilic sites suppress the growth of lithium dendrites for ultrastable lithium metal batteries

Lithium (Li) metal has emerged as an ideal anode for advanced energy storage devices due to its high theoretical capacity. However, Li dendrite formation and large volume change during continuous charge/discharge processes lead to low Coulombic efficiency and severe safety issues, hindering the commercial application of Li metal batteries. Herein, a 3D conductive host comprising lithiophilic ZnO nanoneedle arrays grown on a flexible carbon cloth is designed to pre-store Li via thermal infusion strategy and Li@ZnO@carbon cloth (denoted as Li@ZnO@CC) electrode is formed. The 3D carbon cloth offers the advantages of sufficient free space for Li storage and massive Li nucleation sites. Besides, the presence of lithiophilic ZnO nanoarrays induces homogeneous Li deposition, thus significantly suppresses Li dendrite nucleation and growth. Compared with bare Li electrode (80 cycles), Li@ZnO@CC can stably cycle over 480 cycles under a Li plating/stripping capacity of 1 mAh cm⁻² at the current density of 3 mA cm⁻². When coupled with LiFePO₄ cathode, the full cells display high specific capacity (163 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.2 C), excellent rate performance and outstanding cycle stability, highlighting the possible application of Li@ZnO@CC anode for next-generation, high-energy density and safe batteries.