Electrochemical behavior of residual salts and an effective method to remove impurities in the formation of porous copper electrode for lithium metal batteries

Lithium is one of the most promising candidates for use as an anode in lithium rechargeable batteries owing to its high specific capacity and low redox potential. However, lithium dendritic formation during charging and discharging hinders the use of lithium metal as an anode. Herein, we introduce a porous copper electrode that mitigates dendritic lithium deposition and the formation of dead lithium. The porous Cu electrode is formed by electrodeposition, which is conducted using hydrogen bubbles as a template for the porous structure. However, CuSO4 remains in preparation for the porous copper collector. The residual salts are deposited during the charging process, decreasing the initial coulombic efficiency. To remove the salts, the structure was washed with ethanol and DI water. As a result, the initial coulombic efficiency of the Li/rinsed porous Cu cell was significantly higher than…