Researchers at Hanyang University in South Korea have developed a facet-guided metal plating strategy that enables uniform, horizontal magnesium (Mg) deposition, addressing key safety and performance challenges in anode-free metal batteries.
These batteries offer high energy density but are prone to dendritic growth and short-circuiting due to uneven metal deposition – this new approach improves plating control and enhances overall cell stability.
Led by Associate Professor Hee-Dae Lim from the Department of Chemical Engineering, the team employed a facet-oriented zinc (Zn) host with a physicochemically polished surface.
Anode-free designs eliminate prefabricated anodes, allowing Mg to deposit directly onto a bare current collector – typically copper or zinc – during initial charging. This reduces weight, cost and volume, but dendrite formation remains a major barrier.
To overcome this, the team selected Zn for its structural similarity to Mg, exposed the stable (002) facet via thermal annealing, and applied reactive ion etching to minimise grain boundaries. The resulting P-Zn(002) substrate enabled smooth Mg deposition and suppressed dendrite growth.
Electrochemical tests showed that a full anode-free Mg cell with P-Zn(002) retained 87.58% of its initial capacity over 900+ cycles at 200mA g⁻¹.
“Our facet-guided Mg-metal platform can lead to the development of next-generation Mg-metal batteries with high energy densities that will be valuable for upcoming renewable energy-based smart grid infrastructure,” said Dr Lim.
Read the full study, published in Advanced Energy Materials, here.
