Research Digest — 2026-10-09¶
Solid Electrolytes & Composite Design¶
1. Stress homogenization enabled by a layered composite electrolyte for high-performance all-solid-state lithium metal batteries¶
Source: Nature Communications (s41467-026-78129-0) · 📅 2026-09-30 · ↗ Open paper
Demonstrates a layered composite electrolyte architecture that homogenizes local stress distributions during cycling, modulating Li deposition and suppressing filament penetration. Combines stress-distribution measurements with a design strategy using structured solid electrolytes to stabilize the Li/electrolyte interface in full cells.
Relevance to DENG.Group
Naibing Wu — direct experimental validation of stress homogenization concepts central to polymer/composite electrolyte simulation; Shoutong Jin — stress-coupled dendrite growth models can now be benchmarked against measured stress landscapes; Cheng Peng — microstructure-mechanics coupling in composite separators.
2. Artificial intelligence-assisted investigation of ion transport mechanisms and material screening for solid-state electrolytes¶
Source: Energy Storage Materials (j.ensm.2026.105511) · 📅 2026-10-01 · ↗ Open paper
Presents an AI-assisted framework that shifts solid-state electrolyte discovery from empirical screening to mechanism-guided closed-loop optimization, coupling ion-transport mechanism identification with accelerated material screening.
Relevance to DENG.Group
Mengke Li — mechanism-guided screening complements her ion-transport mechanism studies in halides; group-wide relevance as a template for combining ML screening with physical transport descriptors in the group's discovery pipeline.
Halide Electrolytes¶
3. Outward Charge-Enriched Boundaries Stabilize Halide–Sulfide Solid–Electrolyte Interfaces¶
Source: Inorganic Chemistry (acs.inorgchem.6c03434) · 📅 2026-09-14 · ↗ Open paper
Computational study of halide–sulfide bilayer electrolytes showing that outward charge-enriched boundaries stabilize the interface between the high-voltage halide layer and the sulfide layer, rationalizing why such bilayers combine high-voltage stability with high ionic conductivity.
Relevance to DENG.Group
Yan Li — directly informs her halide degradation/interfacial stability simulations and halide-sulfide bilayer design rules; Umang Agarwal — a concrete case of interfacial charge redistribution governing solid-solid interface stability, relevant to his heterogeneous interface project.
4. A Universal Class of Cubic Crystalline Alkali Organic–Inorganic Glyme-Based Halides¶
Source: Journal of the American Chemical Society (jacs.6c14058) · 📅 2026-10-07 · ↗ Open paper
Reports a universal family of cubic crystalline alkali organic-inorganic halides based on glyme solvation, expanding the structural space of halide salts used across liquid, polymer, ionic-liquid, and solid-state electrolytes. Establishes design principles for crystalline solvated halide phases.
Relevance to DENG.Group
Yan Li and Mengke Li — new halide structural motifs and solvation chemistry expand the compositional space their degradation/transport simulations should cover; Yanhao Deng — novel chemistries are candidate targets for ML interatomic potential fine-tuning.
Dendrite Growth & Phase-Field¶
5. DendriX: A flexible, maintainable, and extendable platform to simulate 3D Li-dendrite growth¶
Source: SoftwareX (j.softx.2026.102768) · 📅 2026-09-15 · ↗ Open paper
Open-source, extensible scientific software platform for 2D and 3D simulation of lithium dendrite growth, designed for maintainability and extension with new physics modules. Provides a community baseline code for electrodeposition and filament-propagation studies.
Relevance to DENG.Group
Shoutong Jin — a maintained 2D/3D platform to benchmark his phase-field dendrite models against and to extend with stress/thermal coupling; Timothy Pook — candidate open-source package for group cluster deployment and code-review practice.