Our new paper in Electrochimica Acta (Q1) "Interfacial Recovery of Lithium Symmetric Cells Enabled by Thermal Conditioning"

Thermal effects are known to influence lithium deposition behavior and interfacial reactions; however, their role in regulating the evolution of lithium interfaces in electrochemical cells remains insufficiently understood. In this work, a thermal-conditioning strategy was applied to lithium symmetric cells to investigate its influence on voltage stability and interfacial evolution. Preheating at 90 °C delayed the onset of voltage instability, while postheating restored voltage stability after interfacial degradation had developed. Component-level heating experiments revealed that the thermal-conditioning effect originates primarily from modifications occurring at the Li/electrolyte interface rather than the separator. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy showed that thermally conditioned cells maintained significantly lower interfacial resistance during cycling, with postheating reducing the charge-transfer resistance and solid electrolyte interphase resistance to 0.9 and 7.4 Ω, respectively. Scanning electron microscopy revealed a transition from heterogeneous lithium surfaces containing cracks and needle-like deposits to more uniform structures. X-ray diffraction analysis demonstrated an increased prominence of the Li (110) reflection after thermal conditioning, while depth-profile X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed enhanced fluorophosphate (PO_xF_y) and LiF formation together with reduced surface LiPF₆-related species. These structural and chemical changes promote interfacial recovery and are consistent with the improved voltage stability observed during cycling.