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oai:figshare.com:article/34018411 2026-09-28T20:12:45Z category_1 category_4 category_146 category_873 category_106 category_734 category_133 portal_63 item_type_6 month_year_09_2026

Directional Li⁺ Flux Control via Liquid-Crystalline Polymer Separators for Fast-Charging Lithium Metal Batteries Geunjung Lee (25133224) Rak Hyeon Choi (14035598) Geonhyeong Park (9356122) Juri Kim (563920) Younwoo Kim (25133227) Hye Ryung Byon (1289913) Dong Ki Yoon (1396249) Biophysics Biochemistry Space Science Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Science Policy Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Plant Biology sup >+</ sup structural anisotropy leads reducing effective tortuosity reduced activation energy high ionic conductivity average coulombic efficiency 77 ms cm plane ion pathways lcp films establish crystalline polymer separators vertically aligned peg uniform li deposition resulting uniform li porous li growth flux suppresses dendritic 8 </ sub 1 </ sub nanoporous films crystalline polymers crystalline alignment ∼ 2 work demonstrates tethered poly regulate li poor reversibility ion transport fold compared facilitate li ethylene glycol engineer low directional li design principle charging conditions chains lining based electrolytes 86 %. 4 c 12 ev 100 cycles Stabilizing lithium (Li) metal batteries requires precise control of Li⁺ ion transport, as spatially nonuniform ion flux can induce dendritic Li growth and poor reversibility. Here, we report liquid-crystalline polymers (LCPs) as nanoporous films that regulate Li⁺ flux through directionally aligned ion pathways. Crosslinked LCP films form aligned nanoporous channels (∼19 nm), while tethered poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) chains lining the pore walls provide coordination sites that facilitate Li⁺ transport. Vertically aligned PEG-LCP films establish through-plane ion pathways, reducing effective tortuosity by ∼2.5-fold compared with planar alignment despite comparable pore architectures. This structural anisotropy leads to high ionic conductivity (1.77 mS cm^–1) and a reduced activation energy (0.12 eV) for Li⁺ migration in carbonate-based electrolytes. The resulting uniform Li⁺ flux suppresses dendritic and porous Li growth, enabling more uniform Li deposition and mitigating excessive interphase formation. Li metal cells employing vertically aligned PEG-LCP films exhibit stable cycling under fast-charging conditions (4 C) with LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂, retaining 94% of the capacity after 100 cycles with an average Coulombic efficiency of 99.86%. This work demonstrates that liquid-crystalline alignment can be leveraged to engineer low-tortuosity ion transport pathways, offering a design principle for fast-charging Li metal batteries. 2026-09-28T00:00:00Z Text Journal contribution 10.1021/acsnano.6c09591.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Directional_Li_sup_sup_Flux_Control_via_Liquid-Crystalline_Polymer_Separators_for_Fast-Charging_Lithium_Metal_Batteries/34018411 CC BY-NC 4.0