Curvature-Induced Reversible Li Plating Behavior Enables Extremely Fast-Charging and Long-Lasting Li-Ion Batteries

Abstract

The limited fast-charging capability of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) poses a significant challenge that hinders the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. A key step in achieving fast-charging LIBs is to effectively mitigate Li plating. Although porous carbon materials have been effectively employed to address this challenge, conventional approaches primarily leverage pore structures as supplementary storage spaces and ion transport channels. Building on this foundation, this work introduces a paradigm of “curvature-induced Li plating” by designing a Konjac glucomannan-based porous hard carbon (KPHC) anode engineered with high-curvature pore interiors as preferential nucleation sites to guide uniform Li plating. Through finite element simulations and multiscale characterization, a mechanistic pathway is established: high curvature → low nucleation barrier → small critical radius → spatially confined growth → highly reversible plating. This enables the KPHC anode to achieve an exceptional average Li plating reversibility of 99.9% over 200 cycles at 1 C. To unequivocally confirm that the performance enhancement originates from the optimized plating process, we assembled pouch cells under harsh conditions (N/P ratio of 0.8). Even with most capacity contributed by Li plating, the KPHC-based cells achieved a high state of charge (SOC) of 74.2% at a 5 C rate, while maintaining 80% retention after 2310 cycles. This work elucidates the role of curvature in Li nucleation and the effect of hierarchically porous structures on Li plating, offering a universal design principle for the development of advanced fast-charging LIBs.