posted on 2023-12-02, 14:04authored byLongli Ma, Xuanyang Li, Jian Tan, Zhan Fang, Zhu Liu, Yuan Wang, Chuming Ye, Pengshu Yi, Mingxin Ye, Jianfeng Shen
Due to their high energy density, lithium/sodium metal
batteries
(LMBs/SMBs) are expected to be the next generation of energy storage
systems. However, the further application of alkali metal batteries
based on liquid electrolytes is limited due to increasing safety concerns.
Gel polymer electrolytes (GPEs), which combine the advantages of the
high ionic conductivity of liquid electrolytes and excellent mechanical
properties of solid polymer electrolytes, are considered to play an
irreplaceable role in the realization of high-performance alkali metal
batteries. In this work, a flexible boron-containing GPE (B-GPE) with
a cross-linked polymer network structure is prepared by a UV-induced
process. The as-prepared B-GPE exhibits good ionic conductivity and
has an extremely high ion transference number due to the electron-withdrawing
effect of the boron moiety and the facile electrolyte uptake ability
of the ethylene oxide chain. Furthermore, a “gentle”
electrode/electrolyte contact is designed by a one-step in situ polymerization
method, which can enhance ion transport within the electrode and at
the electrode/electrolyte interface due to the presence of a continuous
polymer phase for ion conduction. Therefore, LMBs and SMBs containing
B-GPE are able to effectively inhibit the growth of dendrites while
exhibiting excellent cycling stability. These comprehensive results
indicate that this novel B-GPE possesses potential applications for
high-performance alkali metal batteries.