Ionic Liquid Functionalized Gel Polymer Electrolytes for Stable Lithium Metal Batteries

Abstract Metallic lithium (Li) is regarded as the ideal anode material in lithium‐ion batteries due to its low electrochemical potential, highest theoretical energy density and low density. There are, however, still significant challenges to be addressed such as Li‐dendrite growth and low interfacial stability, which impede the practical application of Li metal anodes. In order to circumvent these shortcomings, herein, we present a gel polymer electrolyte containing imidazolium ionic liquid end groups with a perfluorinated alkyl chain (F‐IL) to achieve both high ionic conductivity and Li ion transference number by fundamentally altering the solubility of salt within the gel electrolyte through Lewis‐acidic segments in the polymer backbone. Moreover, the presence of F‐IL moieties decreased the binding affinity of Li cation towards the glycol chains, enabling a rapid transfer of Li cation …