Construction of 3D porous CeO₂ ceramic hosts with enhanced lithiophilicity for dendrite-free lithium metal anode

Lithium (Li) metal anode has been considered as the most promising electrode due to its high theoretical capacity, however, the huge volume changes and the uncontrollable growth of Li dendrites hinder its practical applications. Herein, we construct a 3D porous CeO₂ ceramic host by a conventional tape-casting and high temperature sintering process, and Li metal can be uniformly deposited into the voids of the 3D CeO₂ ceramic framework due to the lithiophilic nature of CeO₂. Benefiting from the solid-state depositing properties, the Li dendrite growth and huge volume change of Li metal anode during cycling are eliminated. The CeO₂ host delivers an ultrahigh Coulombic efficiency of over 99.5% at 0.5 mA cm⁻² and 1.0 mAh cm⁻² for 500 plating-stripping cycles. The CeO₂–Li anode demonstrates a high cycling stability at a high current density of 4.0 mA cm⁻² and capacity of 1.0 mAh cm⁻² for 3500 cycles (2330 h) with a small overpotential. The dendrite-free Li metal anode combined with the excellent electrochemical performance offers a new approach for the development of safe and reliable Li metal batteries.