Design of a lithiophilic and electron-blocking interlayer for dendrite-free lithium-metal solid-state batteries

All-solid-state batteries are a potential game changer in the energy storage market; however, their practical employment has been hampered by premature short circuits caused by the lithium dendritic growth through the solid electrolyte. Here, we demonstrate that a rational layer-by-layer strategy using a lithiophilic and electron-blocking multilayer can substantially enhance the performance/stability of the system by effectively blocking the electron leakage and maintaining low electronic conductivity even at high temperature (60°C) or under high electric field (3 V) while sustaining low interfacial resistance (13.4 ohm cm²). It subsequently results in a homogeneous lithium plating/stripping, thereby aiding in achieving one of the highest critical current densities (~3.1 mA cm^-2) at 60°C in a symmetric cell. A full cell paired with a commercial-level cathode exhibits exceptionally long durability (>3000 cycles) and coulombic efficiency (99.96%) at a high current density (2 C; ~1.0 mA cm^-2), which records the highest performance among all-solid-state lithium metal batteries reported to date.