Engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that charge fast — as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown — quickly and uniformly — on a surprising surface. The trick is to use a crystal growing surface that lithium officially doesn’t ‘like.’ From these seed crystals grow dense layers of uniform lithium metal. Uniform layers of lithium metal are of great interest to battery researchers because they lack battery-performance-degrading spikes called dendrites.Engineers report progress toward lithium-metal batteries that charge fast — as fast as an hour. This fast charging is thanks to lithium metal crystals that can be seeded and grown — quickly and uniformly — on a surprising surface. The trick is to use a crystal growing surface that lithium officially doesn’t ‘like.’ From these seed crystals grow dense layers of uniform lithium metal. Uniform layers of lithium metal are of great interest to battery researchers because they lack battery-performance-degrading spikes called dendrites.