Sputtered silver on the current collector for anode-less NMC111 gel polymer electrolyte lithium batteries

•The anode-less NMC111 lithium battery has the potential for high energy density application under room temperature and normal pressure conditions.•An anode-less NMC111 GPE lithium battery has a sufficient discharge capacity of 0.935 mAh/cm2 and exhibited capacity retention of 86.1% after 30 cycles of the charge–discharge test.•Aluminum serving as the main anode current collector can increase the energy density of the battery. The anode-less lithium battery with the structure of lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2, NMC111) /gel polymer electrolyte (GPE)/silver (Ag)/ conductive carbon black (CCB) coated aluminum current collectors has been proposed for high energy density in this research. The results indicate that the anode-less lithium battery on Ag/CCB-coated aluminum current collector has a sufficient discharge capacity of 0.935 mAh/cm2 and exhibited capacity retention of 86.1 % after 30 cycles of the charge–discharge test. This 1st lower coulombic efficiency (discharge capacity/charge capacity × 100 %) only goes to 46.8 % due to the Li-Al alloying reaction, and part of the lithium ions reacted with the GPE, CCB, and aluminum current collector during the 1st cycle of the anode-less NMC111 lithium battery. These accompanying reactions consumed the Li ions and resulted in the irreversible capacity in the 1st cycle. However, the coulombic efficiency has increased to about 96.2 % after the 1st cycle test. This result indicates that most of the charge–discharge cycles reacted in a reversible capacity, and the anode-less NMC111 lithium battery has the potential for high energy density application.