Fig. 1

Schematic diagram of the failure mechanism of the SEI"

Fig. 2

Schematic diagram of lithium dendrite growth"

Fig. 3

Schematic diagram of the relationship between the lithium anode failure mechanisms"

Fig. 4

Structural diagram of some organic polymers used for modification of lithium metal batteries"

Fig. 5

Pristine morphology of Cu electrodes with (a) no coating, (b) pristine PAN coating, and (c) heat-treated PAN coating. Lithium deposition morphology on Cu electrodes with (d) no coating, (e) pristine PAN coating and (f) heat-treated PAN coating"

Fig. 6

Li nucleation on the bare Cu foil and PNIPAM grafted Cu substrates (a), (b) Illustration of Li nucleation on the bare Cu foil and PNIPAM grafted Cu substrates; (c), (g) SEM images of Li nucleation on bare Cu foil; (d), (h) SEM images of Li nucleation on the PNIPAM-1@Cu substrate; (e), (i) SEM images of Li nucleation on PNIPAM-2@Cu substrate; (f), (j) SEM images of Li nucleation on PNIPAM-3@Cu substrate; (c)—(f) at the current densities of 0.1 mA/cm2; (g)—(j) at the current densities of 0.5 mA/cm2; (k), (l) Top-view simulation images of the distribution of electrodeposition Li atoms on bare Cu foil and PNIPAM polymer brushes grafted Cu substrate, respectively; (m) Cross-sectional simulation image of the electrodeposition Li atoms on PNIPAM polymer-brush-grafted Cu substrate"

Fig. 7

SEM images of the morphology of Li deposited on pristine Cu and PDA-Cu current collectors after different cycles; (a), (e), (i) Cross view and (b), (f), (j) Top view SEM images of the pristine Cu current collector; (c), (g), (k) Cross view and (d), (h), (l) Top view SEM images of the PDA-Cu current collector"

Fig. 8

Schematic illustration of Li deposition behaviors on electrodes with (a) PP and (b) PEDOT/PP separators"

Fig. 9

Schematic diagram of the morphology of Li electrodes during Li plating/stripping process (a) with PP separator (Celgard 2500) and (b) PLL separator"

Fig. 10

Schematic illustrations of structure and Li plating behaviour for artificial SEI layers (a) conventional organic-inorganic composite layers based on solid inorganic nanofillers; (b) all-organic composite layers based on rigid and porous xPCMS-g-PEGMA nanofillers prepared by grafting flexible Li+ conductive PEGMA brushes from xPCMS nanospheres, followed by compositing with single-ion-conductive LN"

Fig. 11

Bare-Li and CDL-Li lithium metal side deposition mechanism"

Fig. 12

Application prospect of organic polymers in the modification of lithium-metal batteries"