Fluoride ion batteries (FIBs) are regarded as promising energy storage devices, and it is important and urgent to develop cathode materials with high energy densities for use in FIBs.

A nondegrading, low-impedance interface between a solid electrolyte and cathode active materials remains a key challenge for the development of functional all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). The widely employed thiophosphate-based solid electrolytes are not stable toward oxidation and suffer from growing interface resistance and thus rapid fading of capacity in a solid-state battery. In contrast, NASICON-type phosphates such as Li1+x Al x Ti2–x (PO4)3 and Li1+x Al x Ge2–x (PO4)3 are stable at high potentials, but their mechanical rigidity and high grain boundary resistance are thought to impede their application in bulk-type solid-state batteries. In this work, we present a comparative study of a LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 (NCM-811) cathode composite employing either β-Li3PS4 (LPS) or Li1.5Al0.5Ti1.5(PO4)3 (LATP) as a solid electrolyte. LPS is employed as a separator in both cases to assemble a functional ASSB. To avoid high-temperature processing of LATP, along with subsequent detrimental interfacial reactions with NCM materials, the ASSBs are constructed and operated in a hot-press setup at 150 °C. The cathode interfaces are investigated using in situ electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which reveals that the interface resistance is strongly suppressed and the chemical state of the composite is unchanged during cycling when employed with LATP. The cell using LATP is reversibly charged and discharged for multiple cycles and outperforms a comparable cell using a thiophosphate composite electrode. The results indicate that LATP in the cathode composite represents an excellent candidate to overcome interfacial challenges in bulk-type solid-state batteries.

The charge/discharge capacity of current lithium-ion battery cathode materials is limited by the charge compensation of transition-metal redox during the charge/discharge processes. Recently, the use of oxide ion redox for charge compensation has been proposed to realize a higher charge/discharge capacity than that observed for transition-metal redox. Different stabilization mechanisms of the reversible oxide ion redox have been proposed. To clarify the mechanism, analysis of the electronic and local structures around oxygen is required. Because of the high-voltage region in which the oxide ion redox occurs, several reactions such as oxygen gas evolution and/or electrolyte oxidation are often included. Thus, operando measurements are required to directly prove this concept and generalize the understanding of the oxide ion redox. This study employs operando soft/hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy combined with X-ray diffraction spectroscopy for four lithium-excess electrode materials with different chemical bond natures. The experimental data together with online analysis of the generated on-charge gas reveal two extreme cases: significantly enhanced covalent or ionic characters in the metal–oxygen chemical bonds, which are necessary conditions to stabilize the oxidation of the oxide ions. This finding provides new insights with exciting possibilities for designing high energy density cathode materials based on anion redox.

New concepts for electrochemical energy storage devices are required to handle the physicochemical energy density limit that Li-ion batteries are approaching. All-solid-state fluoride-ion batteries (FIBs), in which monovalent fluoride anions...