Lithium (Li) metal is recognized as the ‘Holy Grail’ anode for next-generation high-energy-density rechargeable batteries, but its commercial application is critically blocked by the uncontrollable growth of Li dendrite. To suppress the growth of Li dendrite, the most effective solution is to elaborately construct the stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film consisting of nanocrystal inorganic compounds, which can form numerous grain boundaries (GBs) that are mainly responsible for the transport of Li⁺ ions based on the theory calculations. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is a lack of sufficient understanding of the role of GBs in the SEI film owing to the difficulty in the GB characterization. In this minireview, we concisely summarize recent research progress in this field and propose possible research directions on SEI GBs tuning for further development of high-energy-density rechargeable Li metal batteries (LMBs). We anticipate that uniform and ordered SEI GBs can be tailored for dendrite-free LMBs in the near future.

锂 (Li) 金属被公认为下一代高能量密度可充电电池的“圣杯”阳极，但其商业应用受到锂枝晶不可控生长的严重阻碍。为了抑制锂枝晶的生长，最有效的解决方案是精心构建由纳米晶无机化合物组成的稳定固体电解质中间相（SEI）膜，该膜可以形成大量晶界（GBs），主要负责 Li ⁺的传输。离子基于理论计算。然而，据我们所知，由于 GB 表征的困难，对 GB 在 SEI 膜中的作用缺乏足够的理解。在这篇小综述中，我们简要总结了该领域的最新研究进展，并提出了 SEI GBs 调谐的可能研究方向，以进一步开发高能量密度可充电锂金属电池 (LMBs)。我们预计，在不久的将来，可以为无枝晶 LMB 量身定制统一和有序的 SEI GB。