Metallic lithium (Li) has been acclaimed as the most promising anode materials for lithium batteries due to its ultrahigh theoretical capacity of 3860?mA?h?g?1. Its practical application is impeded, however, due to the notorious problems related to dendrite growth caused by its uneven current density distribution and high Li nucleation overpotential. Here, we report a three-dimensional (3D) lithiophobic phase (Cu) and lithiophilic phase (Zn or Sn) composite architecture realized through a facile electrochemical co-deposition technology and its use as a scaffold for dendrite-free Li metal anode. It is found that the simultaneous formation of this lithiophobic-lithiophilic composite on Cu foam leads to ultrafine lithiophilic phase (20?nm) and reduced Li nucleation overpotential, as well as enhanced homogeneity, which enables a uniform electric field distribution during lithium plating/stripping, thus facilitating even and dendrite-free Li deposition. In the meanwhile, the lithiophobic component in the composite acts as a strong backbone, helping to maintain structural stability during lithium storage. Also, the as-prepared three-dimensional micro/nanoporous scaffold with large surface area can effectively reduce the local current density and suppress Li dendrite growth. The full cells with the composite architecture/Li as anode and LiFePO4 as cathode show promising electrochemical performance with over 80% capacity retention over 1600 cycles at 5?C. This work broadens the horizon of lithiophilic hosts for next-generation high-performance Li metal batteries.
