Chem
ArticleIn situ formation of polymer-inorganic solid-electrolyte interphase for stable polymeric solid-state lithium-metal batteries
The bigger picture
Next-generation rechargeable batteries, consisting of Li anode, solid-state electrolytes, and Ni-rich cathodes, are desired to meet future energy-storage needs with high energy density, low cost, and safety. Developing composite polymer electrolytes (CPEs) is one of the right directions for achieving this goal. Extensive research has been devoted to exploring polymeric Li-metal batteries, but only limited progress has been made because of unstable interfaces and unconstrained Li-dendrite growth. Herein, we designed a thin salt-concentrated interlayer on CPEs via simple UV polymerization for stabilizing Li anode and Co-free LiNiO2 cathode to achieve excellent cycling stability (81% retention after 200 cycles), rate performance, and high average Coulombic efficiency of >99.5%. This work provides a reliable method to make CPEs suitable for high-energy Li-metal batteries and thus paves the way to commercialization of quasi-solid- or solid-state lithium batteries.