Li-ion batteries have revolutionized the portable electronics industry and empowered the electric vehicle (EV) revolution. Unfortunately, traditional Li-ion chemistry is approaching its physicochemical limit. The demand for higher density (longer range), high power (fast charging), and safer EVs has recently created a resurgence of interest in solid state batteries (SSB). Historically, research has focused on improving the ionic conductivity of solid electrolytes, yet ceramic solids now deliver sufficient ionic conductivity. The barriers lie within the interfaces between the electrolyte and the two electrodes, in the mechanical properties throughout the device, and in processing scalability. In 2017 the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage research, launched the SOLBAT (solid-state lithium metal anode battery) project, aimed at understanding the fundamental science underpinning the problems of SSBs, and recognising that the paucity of such understanding is the major barrier to progress. The purpose of this Roadmap is to present an overview of the fundamental challenges impeding the development of SSBs, the advances in science and technology necessary to understand the underlying science, and the multidisciplinary approach being taken by SOLBAT researchers in facing these challenges. It is our hope that this Roadmap will guide academia, industry, and funding agencies towards the further development of these batteries in the future.
Transitioning to electrified transport requires improvements in sustainability, energy density, power density, lifetime, and approved the cost of lithium-ion batteries, with significant opportunities remaining in the development of next-generation cathodes. This presents a highly complex, multiparameter optimization challenge, where developments in cathode chemical design and discovery, theoretical and experimental understanding, structural and morphological control, synthetic approaches, and cost reduction strategies can deliver performance enhancements required in the near- and longer-term. This multifaceted challenge requires an interdisciplinary approach to solve, which has seen the establishment of numerous academic and industrial consortia around the world to focus on cathode development. One such example is the Next Generation Lithium-ion Cathode Materials project, FutureCat, established by the UK’s Faraday Institution for electrochemical energy storage research in 2019, aimed at developing our understanding of existing and newly discovered cathode chemistries. Here, we present our perspective on persistent fundamental challenges, including protective coatings and additives to extend lifetime and improve interfacial ion transport, the design of existing and the discovery of new cathode materials where cation and cation-plus-anion redox-activity can be exploited to increase energy density, the application of earth-abundant elements that could ultimately reduce costs, and the delivery of new electrode topologies resistant to fracture which can extend battery lifetime.
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