Solid-State Electrode Materials with Ionic-Liquid Properties for Energy Storage: the Lithium Solid-State Ionic-Liquid Concept.

Herein, the novel concept of a solid-state electrode materials with ionic-liquid (IL) properties is presented. These composite materials are a mixture of electroactive matter, an electronic conductor, a solid-state ionic conductor and a polymeric binder. The approach of a solid-state ionic conductor combines the high safety of an IL with the nanoconfinement of such a liquid in a mesoporous silica framework, an ionogel, thus leading to a solid with liquid-like ionic properties. The same ionic conductor is also used as a solid-state separator to evaluate the properties of our solid-state electrode materials in all-solid-state batteries. Such a concept of a solid-state electrode material contributes to addressing the challenge of energy storage, which is one of the major challenges of the 21(st) century. The ionogel, along with its processability, allows a single-step preparation of the assembly of the solid-state electrode and solid-electrolyte separator and can be applied without specific adaptation to present, thick electrodes prepared by the widespread tape-casting technique. The filling of the electrode porosity by an ionogel is shown by elemental mapping using scanning electron microscopy, and is subsequently confirmed by electrochemical measurements. The ionogel approach is successfully applied without specific adaptation to two state-of-the-art, positive electroactive materials developed for future-generation lithium-ion batteries, namely LiFePO4 and LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2.