Copolymer Solid-State Electrolytes for 3D Microbatteries via Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition

Reliable integration of thin film solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) with 3D electrodes is one major challenge in microbattery fabrication. We used initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) to produce a series of nanoscale copolymer films comprising hydroxyethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol diacrylate. Conformal copolymer coatings were applied to a variety of patterned 3D electrodes and subsequently converted into ionic conductors by lithium salt doping. Broad tunability in ionic conductivity was achieved by optimizing the copolymer cross-linking density and matrix polarity, resulting in a room-temperature conductivity of (6.1 ± 2.7) × 10 –6 S cm –1, the highest value reported for conformal, nanoscale SPEs.