Room-temperature quasi-solid lithium metal batteries enabled by IL@HKUST-1 gel polymer electrolyte

Based on the confinement of the ionic liquid (IL) within the HKUST-1 metal–organic framework (MOF), this work successfully developed a novel gel polymer electrolyte (HKU-5), for room-temperature (RT) quasi-solid lithium metal batteries. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N 2 adsorption-desorption isotherm analysis and different electrochemical characterizations were carried out. In Li|Li symmetric cells, HKU-5 enables stable lithium plating/stripping for over 800 hours (0.1 mA·cm –2 ) and effectively suppresses lithium dendrite growth. When assembled Li|LiFePO 4 full cells using HKU-5 as the separator, it exhibits excellent cycling stability and interfacial compatibility, retaining a discharge specific capacity of 151.2 mA·h·g –1 for 100 cycles at 0.5 C and RT. This study presents a promising IL@MOF-based strategy for developing next-generation electrolytes toward practical lithium metal batteries. Based on the confinement of the ionic liquid (IL) within the HKUST-1 metal–organic framework (MOF), this work successfully developed a novel gel polymer electrolyte (HKU-5), for room-temperature all-solid-state lithium metal batteries. Download: Download high-res image (253KB) Download: Download full-size image