Tetrahedral amorphous carbon modified polypropylene separator for high-performance lithium metal batteries

A tetrahedral amorphous carbon modified polypropylene separator (ta-C-PP) was fabricated in this study. The uniform ta-C coating preserves the intrinsic porous structure of the PP substrate while improving its thermal stability. Moreover, the ta-C-PP separator exhibits excellent electrolyte wettability with a low contact angle of 18.6° and a high electrolyte uptake of 182%, leading to an enhanced ionic conductivity of 1.12 × 10⁻³ S cm⁻¹. Batteries assembled with the ta-C-PP separator deliver improved rate capability and cycling performance, particularly under high current densities, demonstrating its promising potential for enhancing the electrochemical performance of lithium batteries.