Daha esnek bir yapı katı hâl pilleri güçlendirebilir

Solid-state batteries can be safer than conventional lithium-ion cells because they replace flammable liquid electrolytes with solid materials. Yet rigid solids may lose close contact with electrodes, even when they conduct ions efficiently. Rice University researchers designed a metal-organic framework called ZnBTCA to address both problems. Unlike many frameworks built with stiff aromatic linkers, ZnBTCA contains a flexible carbon-chain linker, making it comparatively soft and adaptable. Its negatively charged pores also favour the movement of positively charged lithium ions. After sodium in the material was exchanged for lithium, about 95 percent of the mobile charge-balancing ions were lithium, while lithium carried roughly 79 percent of the ionic current. A membrane containing ZnBTCA operated between lithium-metal electrodes for nearly 300 hours without short-circuiting under the tested conditions. The study suggests that mechanical flexibility, alongside chemistry, pore structure and charge, could become an important design principle for future solid electrolytes.