Room-temperature cylindrical lithium battery enabled by sulfide solid electrolyte tube

Cylindrical batteries have been explored as promising grid energy storage device, due to their high safety margin and low capital/maintenance costs. However, the practical application of cylindrical batteries is hindered by their high operational temperatures (above 240 °C). Herein, we report a sulfide-based cylindrical battery with a significantly reduced operating temperature of 30 °C, enabled by a sulfide solid electrolyte tube, a liquid lithium anode, and an in-situ polymerized gel layer. The battery demonstrates stable performance over a temperature range of 20–55 °C, maintaining 98 % of its capacity after 50 cycles at 30 °C and achieving 80 % energy efficiency. Additionally, the battery recovers stable electrochemical performance after freezing at -70 °C for 6 h. The symmetric battery also exhibits stable cycling for 500 h at 1 mA cm^-², with a 33.01 % increase in critical current density to 4.07 mA cm^-², attributed to optimized ceramic sintering that reduces grain boundaries. This work addresses a century-old challenge in cylindrical batteries by incorporating room-temperature superionic-conductivity sulfide electrolyte tubes, significantly lowering operating temperature, costs, and associated risks.