Hydrogen Bond Boosted Ferroelectric Polarization Enables High Rate Capability Lithium Metal Batteries

Lithium metal is considered as a promising anode material for next generation lithium-based batteries due to its highest specific capacity and lowest reduction potential. However, irreversible lithium stripping/depositing gives rise to severe dendritic growth and countless dead lithium, which lead to rapid electrochemical performance degradation and increased safety hazards, and thus limit its large-scale application. Herein, this work demonstrates a universal hydrogen-bond-induced strategy to in situ form a highly polarized ferroelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) coating on the anode current collector. The localized electric field induced by the polarized ferroelectric PVDF can accelerate the migration of lithium ions and alleviate the shortage of lithium ions and uneven ion/electron distribution and transfer at the anode/electrolyte interface, thus promoting uniform deposition and stripping of Li⁺ at high-rate situations. As a result, the symmetrical Li || Li batteries with polarized PVDF coating exhibit a long cycling lifespan over 900 h under 2 mA cm^-2 with marginal voltage polarization, and an ultra-high-rate performance up to 8.85 mA cm^-2 . The full cells using LiFePO₄ cathode also display enhanced electrochemical performance. The innovative strategy of ferroelectric polarization sheds light on interface engineering to circumvent Li dendrite growth in lithium metal batteries (LMBs).