A compact lithiophilic dual metal oxide nanowire array on 3D copper mesh enables dendrite-free long-life lithium metal anodes

•3D CMCM is designed using wet etching and one-step hydrothermal methods.•3D CMCM/Li is obtained by simply pressing 3D CMCM into Li wafer.•3D CMCM has low nucleation overpotential and ensures uniform deposition of Li.•3D CMCM promotes reaction kinetics and inhibits growth of lithium dendrites.•The cell with 3D CMCM/Li possesses high CE and satisfactory cycle lifespan. Lithium metal anodes (LMAs) are the prospective candidates for the future energy storage/conversion systems because of high theoretical capacity and the lowest negative potential. However, the instability of solid electrolyte interphase and the generation of lithium dendrites during the repeated plating/striping process have become the serious challenges for commercialization of LMAs. Herein, a composite anode is obtained by simply pressing three dimensional CuO@MnO2-modified copper mesh (3D CMCM) into Li foil, and named as 3D CMCM/Li. The lithiophilic 3D CMCM not only possesses a low nucleation overpotential but also ensures the uniform deposition of Li. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations also confirm the lithiophilic essence of both CuO and MnO2. Meanwhile, the 3D CMCM skeleton with nanowire arrays makes contributions to reducing the local current density and enhancing Li plating/stripping reversibility. Significantly, owing to the synergistic effect of lithiophilic CuO@MnO2 and unique 3D copper skeleton structure with nanowire arrays, the half-cell composed of 3D CMCM exhibits a satisfactory Coulombic efficiency (CE, 99.6 %) and the cycle life (300 cycles) at 1 mAh cm−2. And the symmetric cell with 3D CMCM/Li exhibits a low voltage hysteresis and a long cycle stability of 3100 h at 1 mA cm−2/1 mAh cm−2. Moreover, the full cells assembled with sulfur-nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus co-doped carbon (S-NSPC) and LiFePO4 (LFP) cathodes possess the good cycling and rate performance. It is worth noting that the 3D CMCM/Li composite anode designed in this work offers an additional inspiration for the development of LMAs in the future.