Development of functional polymer gel electrolytes and their application in next-generation lithium secondary batteries

Owing to the digital revolution and growing emphasis on sustainability, the demand for innovative electrochemical devices, such as flexible and wearable sensors, energy-harvesting devices, and high-capacity secondary batteries, has been increasing. Alongside this, various high-performance gel electrolytes with excellent mechanical and electrochemical properties have been developed. This focus review presents our recent research on enhancing the mechanical properties of gel electrolytes and their application in lithium secondary batteries. It discusses the efforts made to achieve self-healing ion gels, which utilize ionic liquids as the electrolyte solutions. Additionally, the review covers the application of functional gel electrolytes in next-generation lithium secondary batteries. It focuses particularly on improving the cycling performance of lithium metal anodes, which are considered the very promising anode material. Moreover, the future prospects of functional polymer gel electrolytes have been discussed in this review.