Lithium-ion batteries have been widely used in devices, but they come with safety risks due to their liquid electrolytes. Researchers at Penn State are looking into solid-state electrolytes as a safer alternative for batteries used in laptops, phones, and electric vehicles.

Solid-state batteries, which use solid electrolytes instead of liquid ones, offer better stability and safety. However, there are challenges in manufacturing them. To address this, the Penn State team used a technique called cold sintering to make a highly conductive ceramic-polymer composite solid-state electrolyte called LATP-PILG.

You can find the full research here.

The Penn State team developed a polymer-in-ceramic composite solid-state electrolyte to improve conductivity. This innovative material has a wide voltage window, allowing for more energy generation in batteries.

Cold sintering technology, which operates at lower temperatures, can have broad applications beyond batteries. It could revolutionize how ceramic composite materials are used in manufacturing and semiconductor industries.

The team’s next goal is to create a sustainable manufacturing process for large-scale production and recyclability, paving the way for industrial applications of this technology.

The research was led by Hongtao Sun and includes contributions from Ta-Wei Wang, Seok Woo Lee, Juchen Zhang, and Bo Nie from Penn State.