Room temperature all-solid-state lithium batteries based on a soluble organic cage ionic conductor

Jing Li; Jizhen Qi; Feng Jin; Fengrui Zhang; Lei Zheng; Lingfei Tang; Rong Huang; Jingjing Xu; Hongwei Chen; Ming Liu; Yejun Qiu; Andrew I Cooper; Yanbin Shen; Liwei Chen

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-29743-1

Room temperature all-solid-state lithium batteries based on a soluble organic cage ionic conductor

Nat Commun. 2022 Apr 19;13(1):2031. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-29743-1.

Authors

Jing Li^{1

2

3}, Jizhen Qi², Feng Jin², Fengrui Zhang², Lei Zheng², Lingfei Tang², Rong Huang⁴, Jingjing Xu², Hongwei Chen⁵, Ming Liu⁶, Yejun Qiu⁷, Andrew I Cooper⁸, Yanbin Shen⁹, Liwei Chen^{10

11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
² i-Lab, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China.
³ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, 215009, China.
⁴ Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China.
⁵ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Huaqiao University, Xiamen, 361021, China.
⁶ Leverhulme Centre for Functional Materials Design, Materials Innovation Factory and Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L697ZD, UK.
⁷ Shenzhen Engineering Lab of Flexible Transparent Conductive Films, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China. yejunqiu@hit.edu.cn.
⁸ Leverhulme Centre for Functional Materials Design, Materials Innovation Factory and Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L697ZD, UK. aicooper@liverpool.ac.uk.
⁹ i-Lab, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China. ybshen2017@sinano.ac.cn.
¹⁰ i-Lab, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China. lwchen2008@sinano.ac.cn.
¹¹ Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China. lwchen2008@sinano.ac.cn.
¹² In-situ Center for Physical Sciences, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, 200240, China. lwchen2008@sinano.ac.cn.

Abstract

All solid-state lithium batteries (SSLBs) are poised to have higher energy density and better safety than current liquid-based Li-ion batteries, but a central requirement is effective ionic conduction pathways throughout the entire cell. Here we develop a catholyte based on an emerging class of porous materials, porous organic cages (POCs). A key feature of these Li⁺ conducting POCs is their solution-processibility. They can be dissolved in a cathode slurry, which allows the fabrication of solid-state cathodes using the conventional slurry coating method. These Li⁺ conducting cages recrystallize and grow on the surface of the cathode particles during the coating process and are therefore dispersed uniformly in the slurry-coated cathodes to form a highly effective ion-conducting network. This catholyte is shown to be compatible with cathode active materials such as LiFePO₄, LiCoO₂ and LiNi_0.5Co_0.2Mn_0.3O₂, and results in SSLBs with decent electrochemical performance at room temperature.

Abstract

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