biostudies-literatureBaek MNational Research Foundation of Korea (NRF)National Research Foundation of Korea1296https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC9998607biostudies-literatureUnknown14(1)Regulating the morphology of lithium plating is the key to extending the cycle life of lithium metal batteries. Fatal dendritic growth is closely related to out-of-plane nucleation on the lithium metal surface. Herein, we report a nearly perfect lattice match between the lithium metal foil and lithium deposits by removing the native oxide layer using simple bromine-based acid-base chemistry. The naked lithium surface induces homo-epitaxial lithium plating with columnar morphologies and lower overpotentials. Using the naked lithium foil, the lithium-lithium symmetric cell maintains stable cycling at 10 mA cm^-2 for more than 10,000 cycles, and the full-cell paired with LiFePO₄ with high areal capacity of 3.3 mAh cm^-2 and practical N/P ratio of 2.5 exhibits 86Nature communicationsNaked metallic skin for homo-epitaxial deposition in lithium metal batteries.PMC9998607NRF-2021R1A2B5B03001956NRF-2018M1A2A2063340Baek MKim HKim KJLee JKim JChoi JWYang SJeong KKim MfalseNaked metallic skin for homo-epitaxial deposition in lithium metal batteries.Regulating the morphology of lithium plating is the key to extending the cycle life of lithium metal batteries. Fatal dendritic growth is closely related to out-of-plane nucleation on the lithium metal surface. Herein, we report a nearly perfect lattice match between the lithium metal foil and lithium deposits by removing the native oxide layer using simple bromine-based acid-base chemistry. The naked lithium surface induces homo-epitaxial lithium plating with columnar morphologies and lower overpotentials. Using the naked lithium foil, the lithium-lithium symmetric cell maintains stable cycling at 10 mA cm^-2 for more than 10,000 cycles, and the full-cell paired with LiFePO₄ with high areal capacity of 3.3 mAh cm^-2 and practical N/P ratio of 2.5 exhibits 862023-01-01T00:00:00Z2023 Mar2025-04-22T06:57:26.637Z2025-04-05T21:54:42.24ZS-EPMC99986073689458310.1038/s41467-023-36934-x