Engineering fast ion conductive nanowetted interface layer for high-performance dendrite-free lithium metal cells

To achieve lithium metal batteries with high safety and good electrochemical performances, electrolytes with superior ionic conductivity and mechanical strength are urgently desired. Herein, a diphasic multilayered quasi-solid polymer electrolyte (dmlSPE) with glass fiber cloth/metal-organic framework (GFC/ZIF-8) as the skeleton layer and polymers as the surface layer was developed. In such a unique structure, GFC/ZIF-8 layer with nanowetted interfaces substituted the fast Li ion transfer kinetics of the liquid phase for the slow one of solid polymers, efficiently accelerating the Li ion transportation. And polymer surface layers realized stable electrolyte/anode interfaces. Moreover, GFC/ZIF-8 skeleton enhanced the thermostability and mechanical strength of dmlSPE. As a consequence, the dmlSPE exhibited a high ionic conductivity of 0.713 mS cm−1 at 0 °C, a high tensile strength of 21 Mpa, and superior thermostability. In addition, related lithium symmetric cells exhibited a long cycling life of up to 2000 h, and Li|dmlSPE|NCM811 cells exhibited a high capacity of 180 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C.