Nacre-Inspired Composite Electrolytes for Load-Bearing Solid-State Lithium-Metal Batteries

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Solid-state lithium-metal batteries are crucial for next-generation energy storage.
• Developing solid electrolytes with both mechanical robustness and electrochemical stability is a significant challenge.
• Ceramic electrolytes are brittle, while polymer electrolytes are too soft, limiting their practical application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and fabricate a novel ceramic/polymer solid composite electrolyte with enhanced mechanical and electrochemical properties.
• To mimic the microstructure of nacre for improved material performance.
• To evaluate the potential of this composite electrolyte in solid-state lithium-metal batteries.

Main Methods:

• A nacre-inspired "brick-and-mortar" microstructure was designed using ceramic and polymer components.
• The mechanical properties (fracture strain, flexural modulus) of the composite electrolyte were characterized.
• Electrochemical performance was tested in a 5 × 5 cm² pouch cell under mechanical load.
• Cycling stability and capacity retention were assessed over 100 cycles at room temperature.

Main Results:

• The nacre-like ceramic/polymer electrolyte (NCPE) exhibited a fracture strain of 1.1% and an ultimate flexural modulus of 7.8 GPa, significantly outperforming pure ceramic and polymer electrolytes.
• The NCPE demonstrated superior electrochemical performance, especially under mechanical stress.
• A pouch cell using LAGP/poly(ether-acrylate) NCPE maintained 95.6% capacity retention over 100 cycles, even under a 10 N point load.

Conclusions:

• The nacre-inspired design offers a promising strategy for developing mechanically robust and high-performance solid composite electrolytes.
• The developed NCPE addresses the limitations of traditional ceramic and polymer electrolytes.
• This work opens new avenues for solid-state lithium-metal batteries and structural energy storage applications.