The growth and proliferation of lithium (Li) dendrites during cell recharge are currently unavoidable, which seriously hinders the development and application of rechargeable Li metal batteries. Solid electrolytes with robust mechanical modulus are regarded as a promising approach to overcome the dendrite problems. However, their room-temperature ionic conductivities are usually too low to reach the level required for normal battery operation. Here, a class of novel solid electrolytes with liquid-like room-temperature ionic conductivities (>1 mS cm(-1)) has been successfully synthesized by taking advantage of the unique nanoarchitectures of hollow silica (HS) spheres to confine liquid electrolytes in hollow space to afford high conductivities (2.5 mS cm(-1)). In a symmetric lithium/lithium cell, the solid-like electrolytes demonstrate a robust performance against the Li dendrite problem, preventing the cell from short circuiting at current densities ranging from 0.16 to 0.32 mA cm(-2) over an extended period of time. Moreover, the high flexibility and compatibility of HS nanoarchitectures, in principle, enables broad tunability to choose desired liquids for the fabrication of other kinds of solid-like electrolytes, such as those containing Na(+), Mg(2+), or Al(3+) as conductive media, providing a useful alternative strategy for the development of next generation rechargeable batteries.

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HEVs (PHEVs), besides the traditional applications in portable devices. To build the next generation LIBs with higher performances, high energy density materials are urgently pursued worldwide. [1][2][3] Lithium-rich (Li-rich) materials, with the specific capacity over 260 mAh g −1 and energy density up to ≈1000 Wh kg −1 , [4] have attracted great interest in the past decades. It is reported that Li-rich materials are composed of two phases of Li 2 MnO 3 (C 2/m ) and LiMO 2 (R m 3 ) (M = Ni, Co, Mn, etc.). [5][6][7][8][9] Despite the above advantages, several concerns including structural instability and the resulted voltage degradation, as well as the poor diffusion kinetics at the interface have become the bottlenecks of Li-rich materials. [9][10][11][12][13] In this regard, multifarious modification approaches, such as doping and surface coating, have been intensively investigated. [14][15][16] Particularly, Li + diffusion at the cathode-electrolyte interphase (CEI) is widely regarded as the rate determining step in LIBs. [17][18][19] From this viewpoint, metal fluorides (FeF 3 , [20] MOF, [21,22] AlF 3 , [23,24] etc.), metal oxides (MgO, [25] Al 2 O 3 , [26,27] etc.), metal phosphates (AlPO 4 , [28] LaPO 4 , [29] Li 3 PO 4 , [30] FePO 4 /Li 3 PO 4 , [31] Li-Mn-PO 4 , [32] etc.), and those with similar structure of Li-rich Li 2 MnO 3 (Li 2 SiO 3 [33,34] and Li 2 SnO 3 , [35] ) have been widely applied to modify the surface of bulk Li-rich materials. Recently, fast lithium-ion conductors (LiVO 3 , [36] Li 2 ZrO 3 , [37] Li-La-Ti-O, [38,39] LiPON, [40] etc.) have also been proposed to decorate the surface of Li-rich cathodes to enhance the apparent diffusion coefficients. All the aforesaid surface modification materials, unexceptionally, have been proved to be effective in both stabilizing the structure and facilitating the Li + kinetics. Nevertheless, in general, the decoration layers themselves seem rather "passive" in promoting Li + diffusion. Assuming they are Li + conductive (e.g., solid electrolyte materials), fast Li + diffusion channels will be provided besides the general separation effect (in suppressing side reactions and inevitable TM dissolution). As for Li + insulators (e.g., metal fluorides), only the benefit of physical barriers could be exploited. Therefore, a more "initiative" function interface is imperative to be built to more effectively promote the Li + transport at the electrode-electrolyte interphase.It is noteworthy that piezoelectric material, as an important category in the energy-conversion community, works on the As one of the most promising cathodes for next-generation lithium ion batteries (LIBs), Li-rich materials have been extensively investigated for their high energy densities. However, the practical application of Li-rich cathodes is extremely retarded by the sluggish electrode-electrolyte interface kinetics and structure instability. In this context, piezoelectric LiTaO 3 is employed to functionalize the surface of Li 1.2 Ni 0.17 Mn 0.56 Co 0.07 O 2 (LNMCO), aiming to boost t...

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is an important building block for stabilizing the structure as well as ensuring the high specific lithium storage capacity of xLi 2 MnO 3 $(1 À x)LiMO 2 (M ¼ Ni, Co, Mn, etc.) cathode materials for lithiumion batteries. However, the drawbacks of Li 2 MnO 3 such as its low conductivity and oxygen evolution during delithiation make cathode materials less attractive in terms of safety, rate and cycling performances than traditional cathode materials. This work aims to improve the properties of Li 2 MnO 3related cathode materials by doping molybdenum (Mo) into Li 2 MnO 3 (C2/c). First-principles calculations within the PBE + U scheme show that Mo doping is beneficial for improving both the dynamic and thermodynamic properties of Li 2 MnO 3 by reducing the band gap and increasing the number of electronic states near the Fermi level. This promotes Li-ion diffusion between the lithium layer and transition-metal layer and charge transference from Mo to O, lowering the delithiation potential, adding Mo as another charge compensation donator upon Li removal, and enhancing the stability of oxygen according to the reaction enthalpy. Therefore, Mo doping is expected to be an effective way to improve the structural stability and rate performance of Li 2 MnO 3 and xLi 2 MnO 3 $(1 À x)LiMO 2 cathode materials.