Three-dimensional experimental-scale phase-field modelling of dendrite formation in rechargeable lithium-metal batteries

Abstract

We perform phase-field simulations of the electrodeposition process that forms dendrites within metal-anode batteries including anisotropic representation. We describe the evolution of a phase field, the lithium-ion concentration, and an electric potential, during a battery charge cycle, solving equations using time-marching algorithms with automatic time-step adjustment and implemented on an open-source finite element library. A modified lithium crystal surface anisotropy representation for phase-field electrodeposition model is proposed and evaluated through different numerical tests, exhibiting low sensitivity to the numerical parameters. Change of dendritic morphological behaviour is captured by a variation of the simulated inter-electrode distance. A set of simulations are presented to validate the proposed formulation, showing their agreement with experimentally-observed lithium dendrite growth rates, and morphologies reported in the literature.