Designing Solid-State Composite Electrolytes

Solid electrolytes are considered to be a promising candidate to replace traditional liquid electrolytes due to their enhanced safety and cycling performance. Unfortunately, their application in lithium batteries is greatly limited by the low ionic conductivity and the poor interfacial contact at electrolyte/electrode interface. In order to solve these hazards, the ultimate solution has became to develop novel electrolyte systems based on ceramic filler-incorporated polymer electrolytes with improved mechanical strength, ionic conductivity and wide electrochemical window. Recently, composite solid electrolytes containing ceramic fillers and polymer electrolytes have drawn a lot of attention. Designing and optimizing the structure of composite solid electrolytes is of great importance to boost the overall performance. The multiple advantages of organic-inorganic composite electrolytes assembled in all solid state lithium batteries are discussed in the text. From the perspective of meeting different performance demands considering Li-ion transport mechanism, Li dendrite suppression and interface stability, research progresses on structural design of composite solid electrolytes are summarized. The future development trend and research direction of organic-inorganic composite electrolytes are also mentioned.