A multifunctional constrained host towards dendrite-free lithium anode

•Ag2S NWs are distributed between Ti3C2 layers to construct 3D lithiophilic host.•Ag atoms formed by pre-lithiation induce dense Li deposition during interlayers.•Li-Ag2S/Ti3C2||NCM811 cell exhibits high CE of 97.94% after 300 cycles at 1 C. Uncontrolled growth of Li dendrites, the huge volume change of anode as well as unstable solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) hinder the safety application of high specific energy Li metal batteries (LMBs). Herein, a synergistic strategy is introduced to address the above issues via building a multifunctional constrained host of Ag2S/Ti3C2 film. Anchor the Ti3C2 nanosheets layers with Ag2S nanowires (Ag2S NWs) network to build a solid skeleton structure, which can provide sufficient void space, alleviate the collapse of the host structural during repeated Li plating/stripping. Furthermore, with the Li plating, Ag2S can be reduced to lithiophilic Ag, inducing the uniform Li nucleation and dendritic growth suppression, and the by-product Li2S in situ generation along the Ag2S NWs could strengthen the SEI. Consequently, the electrode of Li-Ag2S/Ti3C2 can operate stably for more than 1200 h at a current density of 0.5 mA cm–2 in the symmetric cell cycling test. The Li-Ag2S/Ti3C2||NCM811 coin cell exhibits high Coulombic efficiencies (CE) (97.94%) after 300 cycles at 1 C. [Display omitted]