A solid battery electrolyte with high performance

This article reports the design and characterization of a high-performance, truly solid polymer electrolyte for lithium-based batteries, addressing long-standing limitations in ion conductivity and safety. Traditional liquid electrolytes, while effective for ion transport, pose significant safety risks, including flammability, whereas earlier solid polymer electrolytes such as polyethylene oxide (PEO)-based systems suffer from inadequate room-temperature conductivity. In response, Quanfeng Dong and colleagues developed an intrinsic polymer electrolyte (IPE) via in situ cross-linking of 1,3-dioxolane (DOL) and pentaerythritol glycidyl ether (PEG), yielding a three-dimensional polymer mesh. This IPE demonstrates markedly improved ionic conductivity of up to 0.49 mS cm⁻¹ at room temperature, substantially surpassing conventional PEO-based electrolytes. Furthermore, the material achieves lithium-ion transference numbers as high as 0.85, indicating highly efficient ion transport. When integrated into lithium-based batteries, the IPE enables devices that retain more than 90% of their initial storage capacity after 300 charge–discharge cycles, evidencing both electrochemical stability and durability. These combined properties—high ionic conductivity, favorable ion migration characteristics, solid-state form, and robust cycling performance—suggest that the reported intrinsic polymer electrolyte is a promising candidate for next-generation, high–energy-density, all-solid-state lithium batteries with enhanced safety profiles.