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Vol. 17 (2025)

Porous Organic Cage-Based Quasi-Solid-State Electrolyte with Cavity-Induced Anion-Trapping Effect for Long-Life Lithium Metal Batteries

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-024-01499-x
Wei‑Min Qin
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Zhongliang Li
Key Laboratory of Functional Metal‑Organic Compounds of Hunan Province, College of Chemistry and Material Science, Hengyang Normal University, Hengyang 421008, People’s Republic of China
Wen‑Xia Su
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Jia‑Min Hu
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Hanqin Zou
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Zhixuan Wu
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Zhiqin Ruan
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Yue‑Peng Cai
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Kang Li
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China
Qifeng Zheng
School of Chemistry, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Qifeng Zheng

qifeng.zheng@m.scnu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 17 (2025), Article Number: 38

Abstract

Porous organic cages (POCs) with permanent porosity and excellent host–guest property hold great potentials in regulating ion transport behavior, yet their feasibility as solid-state electrolytes has never been testified in a practical battery. Herein, we design and fabricate a quasi-solid-state electrolyte (QSSE) based on a POC to enable the stable operation of Li-metal batteries (LMBs). Benefiting from the ordered channels and cavity-induced anion-trapping effect of POC, the resulting POC-based QSSE exhibits a high Li+ transference number of 0.67 and a high ionic conductivity of 1.25 × 10−4 S cm−1 with a low activation energy of 0.17 eV. These allow for homogeneous Li deposition and highly reversible Li plating/stripping for over 2000 h. As a proof of concept, the LMB assembled with POC-based QSSE demonstrates extremely stable cycling performance with 85% capacity retention after 1000 cycles. Therefore, our work demonstrates the practical applicability of POC as SSEs for LMBs and could be extended to other energy-storage systems, such as Na and K batteries.


Highlights:
1 A porous organic cage (POC)-based quasi-solid-state electrolyte (QSSE) with cavity-induced anion-trapping effect was rationally designed to enable the stable operation of Li-metal batteries.
2 The POC-based QSSE exhibits a high Li+ transference number of 0.67 and a high ionic conductivity of 1.25×10−4 S cm−1 with a low activation energy of 0.17 eV.
3 The POC-based QSSE demonstrates a highly reversible Li plating/stripping cycling for 2000 h and superior Li||LFePO4 cycling for thousands of cycles at room temperature.

Keywords

Porous organic cage Cavity-induced anion-trapping Quasi-solid-state electrolyte Homogeneous Li flux Lithium metal battery
Qin, Wei‑Min, Zhongliang Li, Wen‑Xia Su, Jia‑Min Hu, Hanqin Zou, Zhixuan Wu, Zhiqin Ruan, Yue‑Peng Cai, Kang Li, and Qifeng Zheng. 2024. “Porous Organic Cage-Based Quasi-Solid-State Electrolyte With Cavity-Induced Anion-Trapping Effect for Long-Life Lithium Metal Batteries”. Nano-Micro Letters 17 (October):38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-024-01499-x.
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