Novel flexible organic–inorganic
hybrid solid electrolytes
with controlled network structures (cnHSEs) were formed via thiol–acrylate
photopolymerization under UV irradiation, using a series of thiol-modified
silica nanoparticles and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate. Because
of the outstanding lithium ion mobility that is readily identifiable
in the solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, the flexible
cnHSEs demonstrate a relatively high ionic conductivity even at low
temperature of −20 °C and up to the maximum of 7.3 ×
10–4 S cm–1 at 30 °C. The
ionic conductivity herein is higher than that for typical solid polymer
electrolytes at the identical temperature. Additionally, the lithium
ion transference number is also improved simultaneously up to 0.7
more due to the scavenger effect of silica nanoparticles embedded
in the system. Moreover, the cnHSEs show a broad electrochemical stability
window, and the fabricated cell comprising Li|cnHSEs|LiFePO4 exhibits a highly reversible electrochemical reaction and stable
cycling performance.