Highly Ion-Conductive Liquid-Free Solid Polymer Electrolyte for Multivalent Wearable Batteries

Over the next decade, the entire society will witness a significant shift towards flexible batteries as a key area of wearable electronics development. Despite the widespread application of Li-i~n batteries, their safety concerns continue to hinder their adoption in wearable scenarios such as wearable heating pads under successive deformations. Zincbased batteries have been identified as a safe EES, however the use of conventional liquid/hydrogel electrolytes suffers from leakage, poor mechanical strength, stability, and limited operating temperature range. While solid polymer electrolytes (SPE) are considered viable alternatives, they have thus far been unable to meet the required ionic conductivity, low interfacial resistance, and sufficient mechanical properties intrinsically. To address these challenges, this project aims to develop an SPE with high ionic conductivity (>0.01[8/cm]), modulus (~1.5 GPa), operating temperature range (-20-50°C). Subsequently, an all-solid-state battery will be delivered with high specific capacity(300mAh/g at 1 C), cycling stability (>90% capacity retention after 5000 charge-discharge cycles), and superior flexibility (>95% capacity retention after 5000 bending cycles) at a low bending radius of 5 mm. The successful execution of this project holds promising potential and will enable technology transfer of all solid-state flexible batteries, thereby making a substantial impact on EES technology in wearable electronics.