Traditional organic liquid electrolytes often volatilize at high temperatures, leading to fire risks. Electrolytes can react with lithium metals, resulting in lithium dendrite growth and Coulombic efficiency reduction. In response, researchers, including Associate Professor Li Mingtao and Professor Tang Wei and their teams from XJTU, and the Nobel Laureate, Professor John B Goodenough, from the University of Texas at Austin, collaborated and developed a hierarchical nano-SiO2-supported gel polymer electrolyte to upgrade traditional organic liquid electrolytes and improve compatibility of electrolytes and lithium metals.

The upgraded polymer electrolyte is composed of modified SiO2 nanoparticles and upgraded gel electrolytes. Modified SiO2 nanoparticles show superior compatibility with gel electrolytes. Upgraded semi-solid gel electrolytes are helpful in avoiding dangers due to volatilization and leakage, which significantly improve the safety performanc eof electrolytes. Effective inhibition of lithium dendrite growth is also observed in the upgraded electrolyte, improving the efficiency of Lithium metal batteries.