Their suggested stability towards high-voltage cathode materials makes halide-based solid electrolytes currently an interesting class of ionic conductors for solid-state batteries. Especially the LiMn 2 O 4 spinel cathode active material is of interest due to its slightly higher nominal voltage and more resilience to overcharging compared to LiCoO 2 and LiNi x Mn y Co z O 2 cathodes. Typically, a standard ratio of active material to solid electrolyte is used in composites for solid-state batteries. However, for ideal transport properties, and thus to achieve balanced and optimal partial-conductivities, this ratio needs to be reoptimized each time the material basis is changed. In this work, we show transport in the composite measured through both DC polarization as well as transmission line modeling of the impedance spectra. By balancing the partial transport parameters of the composite, an optimum capacity of the solid-state batteries is achieved. This work shows characterization and optimization of transport is required for unlocking the full potential of solid-state batteries.

Mass production of green hydrogen via water electrolysis requires advancements in the performance of electrocatalysts, especially for the oxygen evolution reaction. In this feature article, we highlight how epitaxial nickelates...

Polymer brushes, coatings of polymers covalently end-grafted to a surface, have been proposed as a more stable alternative to traditional physisorbed coatings. However, when such coatings are applied in settings such as vapor sensing and gas separation technologies, their responsiveness to solvent vapors becomes an important consideration. It can be anticipated that the end-anchoring in polymer brushes reduces the translational entropy of the polymers and instead introduces an entropic penalty against stretching when vapor is absorbed. Therefore, swelling can be expected to be diminished in brushes compared to nongrafted films. Here, we study the effect of the anchoring-constraint on vapor sorption in polymer coatings using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations as well as humidity-controlled ellipsometry on chemically identical polymer brushes and nongrafted films. We find a qualitative agreement between simulations and experiments, with both indicating that brushes certainly swell less than physisorbed films, although this effect is minor for common grafting densities. Our results imply that polymer brushes indeed hold great potential for the intended applications.