Correlating Electrode–Electrolyte Interface and Battery Performance in Hybrid Solid Polymer Electrolyte-Based Lithium Metal Batteries

5 years ago

Correlating Electrode–Electrolyte Interface and Battery Performance in Hybrid Solid Polymer Electrolyte-Based Lithium Metal Batteries

Dmitri Barbash, Christopher Y. Li, Hao Qi, Derrick M. Smith, Sarah E. Gleeson, Qiwei Pan

Solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) are desirable in lithium metal batteries (LMBs) since they are nonflammable and show excellent lithium dendrite growth resistance. However, fabricating high performance polymer LMBs is still a grand challenge because of the complex battery system. In this work, a series of tailor-designed hybrid SPEs are used to prepare LMBs with a LiFePO4-based cathode. High performance LMBs with both excellent rate capability and long cycle life are obtained at 60 and 90 °C. The well-controlled network structure in this series of hybrid SPEs offers a model system to study the relationship between the SPE properties and the LMB performance. It is shown that the cycle life of the polymer LMBs is closely correlated with the SPE–Li interface ionic conductivity, underscoring the importance of the solid electrolyte interface in LMB operation. LMB performance is further correlated with the molecular network structure. It is anticipated that results from this study will shed light on designing SPEs for high performance LMB applications. High performance lithium (Li) metal batteries with both high rate capability and long cycle life can be obtained at 90 and 60 °C by using cross-linked solid polymer electrolytes. For the first time, the cycle life of the polymer lithium metal batteries is directly correlated to the ionic conductivity of the Li–solid polymer electrolyte interface.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201701231