High-performance rechargeable all-solid-state silver battery based on superionic AgI nanoplates

This work studies a novel rechargeable all-solid-state Ag battery by using AgI nanoplates in unusual polytype phases as solid Ag electrolytes, Ag as anode and TiTe2 as cathode. Sufficiently high conductivity at room temperature (ca. 2.2 × 10−3 S cm−1) of the polytype AgI nanoplates leads to a successful battery operation even at room temperature, which is not at all possible in the case of commercial AgI. The working temperature of the batteries with a high current density (up to 2500 μA cm−2) using high-temperature modification of AgI (α-AgI) with conductivity >10−1 S cm−1 can be lowered as much as by ∼50 °C (from 150 °C to 100 °C) due to the anomalous phase transition to α-phase (a large hysteresis) of the polytype nanoplates. Not only are the cycling and rate performance of the Ag batteries remarkable, but also the novel electrolyte (AgI nanoplates) promises the miniaturization into nanoscaled batteries (nano-batteries).