Investigating the Effects of Anisotropic Mass Transport on Dendrite Growth in High Energy Density Lithium Batteries

Dendrite formation on the electrode surface of high energy density lithium (Li) batteries causes safety problems and limits their applications. Suppressing dendrite growth could significantly improve Li battery performance. Dendrite growth and morphology is a function of the cation concentration gradient in the electrolyte near the anode interface. Most research into dendrites in batteries focuses on dendrite formation in isotropic electrolytes (i.e., electrolytes with an isotropic diffusion coefficient). In this work, an anisotropic diffusion reaction model is developed to study the anisotropic mass transport effect on dendrite growth in Li batteries. The model uses a Lagrangian particle-based method to model dendrite growth in an anisotropic electrolyte solution. The model is verified by comparing the numerical simulation results with analytical solutions, and its accuracy is shown to be better than previous particle-based anisotropic diffusion models. Several parametric studies of dendrite growth in an anisotropic electrolyte are performed and the results demonstrate the effects of anisotropic transport on dendrite growth and morphology, and show the possible advantages of anisotropic electrolytes for dendrite suppression. (C) 2015 The Electrochemical Society.