Composite lithium metal anodes for lithium batteries with reduced volumetric fluctuation during cycling and dendrite suppression

A lithium battery comprising:

• a cathode;
• a composite lithium metal anode;
• and
• an electrolyte in contact with the cathode and the composite lithium metal anode, wherein:
• the composite lithium metal anode includes a porous matrix and lithium metal disposed within the porous matrix,
• the porous matrix has a conformal lithiophilic coating on surfaces of the porous matrix defining nanoscale open spaces within the porous matrix, and
• the nanoscale open spaces and the lithiophilic coating around the nanoscale open spaces enable thermal infusion of the lithium metal into the nanoscale open spaces to form lithium metal domains having a dimension in a range of 1 nm to 500 nm.