%0 Journal Article %A Seung-Yong Lee %A Junyi Shangguan %A Sophia Betzler %A Stephen J Harris %A Marca M Doeff %A Haimei Zheng %B Nano Energy %D 2022 %G eng %P 107641 %R 10.1016/j.nanoen.2022.107641 %T Lithium metal stripping mechanisms revealed through electrochemical liquid cell electron microscopy %U https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2211285522007194 %V 102 %8 11/2022 %! Nano Energy %X

An understanding of lithium stripping is as important as that of lithium plating to achieve significant advances in using lithium metal anodes for high-energy rechargeable batteries. However, there have been limited studies on lithium stripping compared to lithium plating. Here we report the lithium stripping mechanisms revealed through in-situ electrochemical liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We directly observe and compare the stripping behavior of the in-situ grown lithium dendrites and lithium nanograins covered by a lithium fluoride-rich solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI). We find the sporadic lithium stripping behavior and three important modes that can describe the stripping of individual lithium deposits, regardless of their morphology: (i) symmetric stripping, (ii) surface-preferred asymmetric stripping, and (iii) interface-preferred asymmetric stripping. In addition, SEI chemical mapping with high spatial resolution shows a remarkable SEI loss at the end of the lithium metal stripping, which illustrates the importance of SEI protection in the subsequent cycles.