A team led by researchers from Central South University (Changsha, Hunan, China) has proposed a cathode-electrolyte integration strategy to produce a solid-state lithium-metal battery with enhanced cycle stability. A paper on their work is published in the Journal of Power Sources.

Solid-state lithium-metal batteries have many appealing properties, such as improved safety and capacity density. Nevertheless, high interfacial resistance, uneven current density and severe Li dendrite growth caused by rigid contact at the cathode-electrolyte interface greatly restrict their electrochemical performance and further practical application.

The Central South University team used a poly(vinylidene fluoride)-based composite electrolyte as a cathode binder and a heat-pressing procedure to achieve a soft interfacial contact.

Li et al.

Due to the modification strategy, fabricated cells with integrated structure show lower resistance, faster Li-ion transport, enhanced capacity and improved cycle stability. The integrated LiFePO₄/Li cell exhibits superior electrochemical performance, which present a capacity retention of 93.8% and 91.6% after 300 cycles at 0.5 C and 400 cycles at 1 C, respectively, being able to compare favorably with the conventional cells using liquid electrolyte.

Overall, the study provides a solution for designing advanced solid-state lithium metal batteries.

—Li et al.

Resources

• Jingyi Li, Zhenyu Wang, Zhiwei Zhou, Cong Li, Zhenjiang He, Junchao Zheng, Yunjiao Li, Jing Mao, Kehua Dai, Cheng Yan (2022) “Cathode-electrolyte integrating strategy enabling solid-state lithium metal battery with enhanced cycle stability,” Journal of Power Sources, Volume 544 doi: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.231891.