A room temperature rechargeable Li2O-based lithium-air battery enabled by a solid electrolyte

An enabling composite electrolyteLithium-air batteries have scope to compete with gasoline in terms of energy density. However, in most systems, the reaction pathways either involve one- or two-electron transfer, leading to lithium peroxide (Li2O2) or lithium superoxide (LiO2), respectively. Kondori et al. investigated a lithium-air battery that uses a ceramic-polyethylene oxide–based composite solid electrolyte and found that it can undergo a four-electron redox reaction through lithium oxide (Li2O) formation and decomposition (see the Perspective by Dong and Lu). The composite electrolyte embedded with Li10GeP2S12 nanoparticles shows high ionic conductivity and stability and high cycle stability through a four-electron transfer process. —MSL