In most lithium-ion batteries, ions are moved by a liquid electrolyte. However, a slight damage of the battery may cause leakage of electrolyte, causing explosion or fire. Thus, people are looking into alternatives such as solid-state batteries, which can be made using inorganic ceramic material or organic polymers. Elastomers, or synthetic rubbers have superior mechanical properties. It has been found that this material when formulated into a 3D structure, acted as a superhighway for fast lithium-ion transport with superior mechanical toughness, resulting in longer charging batteries that can go farther. A team made of scientist from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Georgia Institute of Technology is working on the rubber battery development. (1)
According to Reference 1, this rubber electrolyte is made during a simple polymerization process at low temperatures, this process generates robust and smooth interfaces on the surface of electrodes. These unique characteristics of the rubber electrolytes prevent lithium dendrite growth but allow a faster moving ions!
According to Reference 2, The rubber electrolyte-based lithium metal batteries allow high energy density exceeding 410 Watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kgelectrode+electrolyte) and maintained a high energy density of 235 Wh/kgelectrode+electrolyte at a power density of 184 Wh/kgelectrode+electrolyte. Thus, electric vehicles equipped with the rubber electrolytes-based Li batteries can travel over 490 miles on a single charge, while that with conventional Li-ion batteries can do only 310 miles.
