Fast Kinetics Design for Solid-State Battery Device

Fast kinetics of solid-state batteries at the device level is not adequately explored to achieve fast charging and discharging. In this work, a leap forward is achieved for fast kinetics in full cells with high cathode loading and areal capacity. This kinetic improvement is achieved by designing a hierarchical structure of electrode composites. In the cathode, the authors’ design enables high areal capacities above 3 mAh cm⁻² to be stably cycled at high current densities of ≈13–40 mA cm⁻², yielding a C-rate from 5 to 10 C. In the anode, the authors’ design breaks the common rule of the negative correlation between critical C-rate and the discharge voltage that is observed in most other anodes. The overall design enables the fast cycling of such batteries for over 4000 cycles at room temperature and 5 C charge-rate. The design principles unveiled by this work help to understand critical kinetic processes in battery devices that limit the fast cycling at high cathode loading and speed up the design of high-performance solid-state batteries.