Composite Electrolytes with Li2CO3‐Free Garnets Achieved by One‐Step Poly(propylene carbonate) Treatment for High‐Rate and Long‐Life Solid Lithium Batteries

Abstract

AbstractGarnet‐based composite electrolytes show great potential in building high‐energy‐density solid lithium batteries. However, naturally formed Li2CO3 on garnets owing to air exposure hinders the Li‐ion transport and triggers undesirable performance deterioration. Based on the reaction between basic Li2CO3 and poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) with a product of propylene carbonate (PC), composite electrolytes with homogeneously distributed Li2CO3‐free garnets as well as PC are fabricated in one step without the post‐treatment of garnet powders in both polyethylene oxide (PEO) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)‐based electrolytes. The formed PC component further decreases the crystallization of PEO and reduces the grain size of PVDF, leading to improved ion transport in PEO and the suppression of PVDF dehydrofluorination. Consequently, the PPC‐treated garnets enable high ionic conductivities of 3.40 × 10−4 and 1.75 × 10−4 S cm−1 at 30 °C, respectively, in PEO:garnet and PVDF:garnet electrolytes, as well as great electrochemical stability against Li‐metal with a lifespan over 1000 h in Li symmetrical cells at 0.1 mA cm−2. Superior stable cycles are thus realized in both LiFePO4|PEO:garnet|Li and LiNi0.6Co0.2Mn0.2O2|PVDF:garnet|Li cells. These above results demonstrate that the one‐step treatment used here helps the enhancement of Li‐ion transport in composite electrolytes, thus essential for building high‐rate and long‐life solid lithium batteries (SLBs).