Monolayer Amorphous Carbon: Unlocking Disorder-Induced Lithiophilicity.

ABSTRACT: Dendritic lithium growth on the current collector remains a major obstacle to developing anode-less batteries, arising from inhomogeneous lithium nucleation and uneven surface lithiophilicity. Existing approaches, such as metallic or carbonaceous interlayers, often fail to stabilize lithium deposition due to mechanical degradation or spatial variations in lithium affinity. Here, we demonstrate that a monolayer amorphous carbon (MAC) film-a single-atom-thick disordered sp² network grown directly on copper-can fundamentally alter lithium nucleation behavior. The topological disorder of MAC produces a dense distribution of electron-rich sites that uniformly strengthen lithium binding. As a result, the MAC surface exhibits a lithium contact angle of 31 ± 5°, four times lower than th

SUBMITTER: Shi L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12806237 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature