A Facile Surface Preservation Strategy for the Lithium Anode for High-Performance Li–O(2) Batteries

[Image: see text] Protecting an anode from deterioration during charging/discharging has been seen as one of the key strategies in achieving high-performance lithium (Li)–O(2) batteries and other Li–metal batteries with a high energy density. Here, we describe a facile approach to prevent the Li anode from dendritic growth and chemical corrosion by constructing a SiO(2)/GO hybrid thin layer on the surface. The uniform pore-preserving layer can conduct Li ions in the stripping/plating process, leading to an effective alleviation of the dendritic growth of Li by guiding the ion flux through the microstructure. Such a preservation technique significantly enhances the cell performance by enabling the Li–O(2) cell to cycle up to 348 times at 1 A·g(–1) with a capacity of 1000 mA·h·g(–1), which is several times the cycles of cells with pristine Li (58 cycles), Li–GO (166 cycles), and Li–SiO(2) (187 cycles). Moreover, the rate performance is improved, and the ultimate capacity of the cell is dramatically increased from 5400 to 25,200 mA·h·g(–1). This facile technology is robust and conforms to the Li surface, which demonstrates its potential applications in developing future high-performance and long lifespan Li batteries in a cost-effective fashion.