Lithium plating reduces the battery life drastically and limits the fast-charging capability. In severe cases, lithium plating forms lithium dendrite, which penetrates the separator and causes internal short. Significant research efforts have been made over the last two decades to understand the lithium plating mechanisms.
Li metal is a potential anode for lithium batteries owing to its high theoretical capacity (3860 mA h g −1); however, its practical use is handicapped by the formation of dendrites. Herein, we propose an Al−Li alloy as a stable and reversible anode achieved via pre-lithiation of Al foil.
(B) Commercial lithium-ion batteries cells that have been used for lithium plating studies in the literature. Several studies investigated lithium plating at lower charging rates (0.3 and 0.5 C-rate) and temperature ranges from (-20 °C to 40 °C).
Simulation results show the typical features of the “stripping-plateau”, which is often observed during discharge after Li plating occurrs. Moreover, a similar feature is observed at the onset of Li plating, which can serve as an indicator for lithium plating in lithium ion batteries during charging, for example, of electric vehicles.
In the literature, various battery cells are used for investigating lithium plating. Most of them use graphite as the anode and use different cathode materials, such as lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NMC 111), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO).
Fear et al. showed that battery capacity fade could be prevented by detecting lithium plating when graphite starts lithiation. However, none of the existing techniques can detect and quantify lithium plating in real-time when the battery is in the charging process.