The cycle life and energy density of rechargeable metal batteries are largely limited by the dendritic growth of their metal anodes (lithium, sodium or zinc). Here we develop a three-dimensional cross-linked polyethylenimine lithium-ion-affinity sponge as the lithium metal anode host to mitigate the problem. We show that electrokinetic surface conduction and electro-osmosis within the high-zeta-potential sponge change the concentration and current density profiles, which enables dendrite-free plating/stripping of lithium with a high Coulombic efficiency at high deposition capacities and current densities, even at low temperatures. The use of a lithium-hosting sponge leads to a significantly improved cycling stability of lithium metal batteries with a limited amount of lithium (for example, the areal lithium ratio of negative to positive electrodes is 0.6) at a commercial-level areal capacity. We also observed dendrite-free morphology in sodium and zinc anodes, which indicates a broader promise of this approach.

可充电金属电池的循环寿命和能量密度在很大程度上受到其金属阳极（锂，钠或锌）的树枝状生长的限制。在这里，我们开发了三维交联的聚乙烯亚胺锂离子亲和海绵作为锂金属阳极主体，以缓解该问题。我们表明，高电势海绵中的电动表面传导和电渗改变了浓度和电流密度分布，这使得在高沉积容量和电流密度下，锂的无树突状镀覆/剥离具有高库仑效率，甚至在低温下。使用含锂海绵可以显着改善锂含量有限的锂金属电池的循环稳定性（例如，在商业级别的面容量下，负极与正极的面锂比为0.6）。我们还观察到钠和锌阳极中无枝晶形态，这表明该方法具有广阔的前景。