Furthermore, the wide range of electrolyte systems used makes it difficult to compare results between different reports or to disentangle physical and chemical effects responsible for uncontrolled lithium growth. Growth of smooth lithium morphologies attributed to electrostatic shielding for example , was later found to consist of a particular self-aligned and compact nanorod morphology . Such a columnar morphology is very similar to the results first obtained by Kanamura et al. using HF as an additive, and later with trace amounts of water for the in-situ formation of HF through the hydrolysis of an LiPF6 electrolyte . This growth mode is commonly attributed to the formation of a LiF solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer mainly based on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy . So far, deposition of columnar lithium layers has attracted interest for its smooth or 'dendrite-free' morphology, but has also shown improved results in terms of lifetime and Coulombic efficiency . In particular, a unique plating and stripping along the length of the columns has been observed in cycling implying reduced local current densities and limited volumetric change of the lithium metal anode, mitigating wellknown causes of ramified lithium growth and failure in lithium metal batteries.